Ben and Sarah first met at Hangout Fest in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The first morning, there was a big storm, and everyone was either evacuated or crammed inside The Hangout restaurant. God just so happened to put them at a table directly across from each other. Ben could not take his eyes off Sarah. He had to meet her. Once the festival resumed, Sarah's long legs were a lot quicker than Ben's short stumps walking out to the beach. He asked her cousin to give her his contact. She said, "If you want her, you gotta go get her yourself," pointing him in the right direction. He hurried his little legs on over, approached her, introduced himself, told her she was beautiful, and asked for her contact info. They messaged whenever they could throughout the weekend with spotty service because of the 40,000 people at the festival, but when their phones weren't working they kept coincidentally seeing each other.

Ben asked Sarah to go on a date the day after the festival. Sarah accepted and suggested they go to her hometown nearby. They got a bite to eat. Sarah got a cheeseburger. Ben got fried ribs. Sarah got a corona. Ben got a mule. Sarah took Ben to an ice cream shop afterwards. With their ice cream in one hand and each other's hand in the other, they strolled around town together. They found a cute, secluded sitting area in an alleyway where they sat, talked, laughed, and lost track of time. Even though they would be a few states away, they both wanted to continue getting to know each other better.

After two months of messages, phone calls, Snapchats, FaceTimes, and Ben getting a Nintendo Switch just to play Sarah's favorite game with her, they planned a weekend to see each other. Ben brought her flowers and took her to the movies to see Elvis. Sarah fell asleep before the movie ended. The next day, they spent the entire day at the beach together. They snacked, talked, and played hangman in the sand. They spent another day at the beach together. They saw dolphins and Ben was almost eaten by a shark.

A couple more months went by, and many many more FaceTimes took place. They were on FaceTime together nearly every night moving forward. They watched movies together on FaceTime. They played games together on FaceTime. Sometimes, they just sat and enjoyed nothingness together on FaceTime. Sarah had enough of just seeing Ben through a phone and decided to come visit him for his birthday. Ben took Sarah around his hometown. They also made pumpkins well before Halloween, which didn't quite last in the Texas heat - unlike the love that was growing between Ben and Sarah.

Ben came back down to visit Sarah. They got a condo on the beach. This weekend was filled with fun in the sun, music at a brewery, and good memories. Sarah bought face masks and feet masks for the two of them to do together. Ben loved it. They swung on swings together and Sarah had to use a porta-potty. Ben thought that was funny. Sarah did too... kinda.

Sarah and Ben both traveled to meet each other for this trip. Texas A&M was playing against Auburn. They got tickets to the game and a cute little Airbnb in Phenix City, Alabama. The first evening, Ben pulled up in his new truck and surprised Sarah with gifts from his mission trip to Mexico City. The next morning started with a perfect brunch in Columbus, Georgia. After brunch, they went on a long, fun walk along the Chattahoochee River. They "accidentally" wandered into a food truck festival. This was Ben's idea. Later that evening, they got ready and drove to the game. They were both very excited. Both of their teams were tied for last in the SEC, but someone was going to get a win! Luckily, Auburn dominated Texas A&M because Sarah got to take Ben to Toomer's Corner to throw toilet paper into the trees! The next day, they drove to the zoo in Montgomery. They fed goats at the petting zoo, and Sarah learned that Ben and goats do not see eye to eye since one bit his pinky fingernail off in kindergarten. They also got to enter Parakeet Cove, a huge bird enclosure filled with parakeets. Ben learned that Sarah is a bird whisperer.

Sarah came to visit Ben for Christmas. She met some of his family (Ben has a very big family). One of those family members Sarah got to meet was Tanner, Ben's oldest best friend/cousin. Ben made jalapeno cream corn. Sarah made homemade meatballs. Sarah's dish came back empty. Ben's didn't. Later on, Ben and Sarah took a fun trip to Marshall, Texas to see one of the prettiest Christmas towns in Texas. They got hot cocoa and Santa asked if he could take a picture with them. Shortly after, Ben came to visit Sarah for New Year's Eve. Two key points in this part of the story that will be discussed later... Ben brought a bread-baking kit for them to do, and Sarah was watching her swim coach's dogs for the weekend. Ben got to meet one of Sarah's best and oldest friends Cori. They ate a fancy dinner and Cori took some perfect pictures as they brought in the New Year with a kiss. Okay... back to the part about the bread mix and the dogs. The dogs sneakily got the bread mix from off the counter during the middle of the night. The dogs consumed the entire bag of bread mix. The dogs pooped everywhere... everywhere. Since Sarah was already in her NYE dress, Ben got on his hands and knees and cleaned it all up. Ben still remembers the smell.

For Valentine's Day, Sarah came to visit Ben. They went to Dallas Fort Worth, Texas for the weekend. Ben picked her up at the airport and the first day started with a delicious brunch of Valentine's pancakes and Valentine's cocktails. Then, they drove down to the Fort Worth Stockyards. Later that evening, they went to the rodeo. The next day, they went to a place in Dallas to play all sorts of games from virtual reality to performing a silly surgery. They had a lot of fun. That night, Ben took Sarah up on top of the Reunion Tower to end their weekend together. This was the first of many more Valentine's Days together.

A couple of weeks later, Ben came back down to Fairhope to visit Sarah just before her birthday. Sarah learned what geocaching is and also learned that she was considered a Muggle. She did not like this one bit. At around 10:00 pm, she downloaded the app and they went on an adventure and found her first geocache, which was hidden in a light post in a movie theatre parking lot. They spent a lot of the weekend geocaching because she was pretty dang good at it. The next day, they planned out the perfect snacks for a picnic and enjoyed it on the beach. Ben and Sarah both really like Dunkaroos. They also rented bicycles and rode them through a state park.

This one time, Sarah and Ben rode on a pedal boat that was shaped like a duck... Ben had been asking to do it for months.

Sarah had a week off from work, so she came to see Ben. Ben was so excited. Sarah was too. As soon as Sarah got to town, they went to the grocery store and loaded up on stuff for the week that they could make together. Of course, they got more Dunkaroos. They are quite the team in the kitchen together. They got all prettied up and went to church together. Faith is very important to both of them. They spent time with Ben's family. This was a good week of quality time together. To cap it off, they went to Dallas and enjoyed some of the nicest rooftop pools and resorts in DFW. Sarah loves being by the water. They ate at a Hot Pot. Ben burned his finger. While in Dallas, they went out on the town with Ben's oldest, best friend, and basketball teammate John. Since Easter was coming up, they died some eggs together... these lasted, unlike the Halloween pumpkins.

This one time, Sarah and Ben got on a swing ride at a fair... it lasted a lot longer than they expected.

Ben came to see Sarah for an entire week. They started off this trip by having Sarah's other oldest, best friend Katherine, and her family over for dinner, drinks, and board games. Sarah and Ben went to the grocery store, and they got all the ingredients. Ben demanded they make everything from scratch. Before preparing dinner, they went to Sarah's little cousin's strawberry-themed birthday party where Ben got to meet more of Sarah's family. Then, they went home and rushed into the kitchen to prepare dinner. They cooked a delicious meal. After the meal, Ben whooped them all in a board game. It was his board game, so he was the only one that knew how to play. The next day, they went to church and then packed for their upcoming trip. They planned a cute little trip to some picturesque beach towns. Sarah was super excited. Ben was too. They hopped in the car and took off down the road. They stopped in Seaside where Sarah bought a sweatshirt that instantly gave her buyer's remorse because of the price. She got a butter stain on it later that night while eating popcorn. They went to their condo, which was nestled in between Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach in the little town of Seacrest. It was perfect. They soaked up the sun at the beach, walked through the cute little beach towns, and both enjoyed the company of their favorite companion. When they returned, Ben asked George and Roxanne's (Sarah's parents) blessing to take Sarah's hand in marriage. They both approved.

Ben asked. Sarah said yes.