My family took a quick trip to Corpus in December 2017 to watch Romy graduate from Texas A&M nursing school. After dinner my little sister decided to jump on a dating app and matched me with Mike and his dog Sawyer almost immediately. Apologetically, I reached out to Mike and let him know that it would be hard to get together and that we'd probably never really meet because I lived in Houston and was not interested in getting involved in a long distance relationship at the time. I drove out of town the next day not thinking much of it, but Mike and Sawyer stayed on my mind. We kept in touch innocently over the next few weeks and eventually agreed to meet (in the most daring of ways!) on New Year's Eve. With Kirby in tow, I drove down to the City by the Sea to meet Mike. Our first date was filled with laughter and an inkling feeling that this was something real. Somewhere between fishing in freezing waters and running along the beach in 40 degree weather, I got excited by the thought of a possible future together. A couple days turned in a few more, and slowly but all at once my whole world changed.

The first text message I sent to Vivian, asked if she wanted to exchange, "puppy pics?" A gorgeous blonde, and the owner of such a regal looking chocolate lab....I thought to myself, maybe Houston really isn't that far. I'd be silly not to chase her, right? Vivian skipped town before we had an official chance to meet. We stayed in contact over the next several weeks and I eventually invited her back down to Corpus for some fishing and the New Year's festivities. I decided we'd take the boat out fishing in perhaps an overconfident attempt to beat an impending cold front. In my mind, I'd only get one real shot with this girl and I had to show her a good time. A comment made by a fisherman at the marina, "she's a tougher woman than most," didn't register with me until the boat ride back. With increasing wind speeds out of the north and 4-5 foot rollers shooting across the Laguna, let's just say the ride back was not smooth sailing. As I navigated back with two dogs in the boat, both Vivian and I were getting blasted with salt spray. Half way back, I noticed most of the left side of her body was soaking wet. I shouted over the wind gusts if she was doing OK? She looked back at me with an undoubtedly near hypothermic body, smeared mascara, matted salt hair, and with that brilliantly white smile replied, "never better!" At that moment I knew I had met someone extraordinary that I couldn’t let go. Slowly but all at once my whole word changed.

The proposal was a complete surprise, although we had discussed a future together and what that might look like. Mike proposed to me at my parents ranch in Brenham, TX. It was Christmas Eve and Mike suggested going down to the pond to catch some elusive catfish. We had been to the pond many times before, so this was not out of the ordinary. I went in to help with some cooking and Mike had gone to set up the poles. I got a call that the fish were biting and I should hurry down. My sister, brother-in-law, and I went down to try our luck. Pulling in the first line was tough and I quickly realized I was pulling up a sunken bottle with a note inside. I knew immediately what was happening and could not control myself. I didn’t even get a chance to read the note in full before Mike was on one knee asking me to spend the rest of my life with him. He strongly suggested we wait until we were off the dock before trying on the ring!

My parents and grandparents were up at the house waiting with a bottle of champagne to celebrate!