In late 2019, Brandon had recently moved to Leonard and was frequenting a chiropractic office in Anna. It just so happened that one of my friends worked at said chiropractic office (shoutout to Sabrina Paroski), and reallyyyy wanted to play match maker. I was NOT about it and wanted to stay far away from dating for the foreseeable future. A few weeks went by and one afternoon Sabrina notified me that Brandon would be adding me on Facebook any second. Insert huge eye roll.

Facebook messages on Halloween night turned into Brandon asking “So when can I see you in person?” If you know me, you know I love a good blunt straight forward person. Giving in to spontaneity for once in my life, I made the drive out to little old Leonard, Texas, to meet a total stranger and risk giving my mom and sister a heart attack. The night flew by and I felt an overwhelming sense of comfortability with Brandon. I mean.. Our first dinner together was Dairy Queen drive thru.. How could I have not fallen in love? I went home thinking there was no way it was that easy but that I also couldn’t wait to see him again. Weekend date nights turned into weekend visits and then… Covid hit. (Enough said) We found ourselves navigating an extremely weird world while still trying to date, get to know each other, and have fun. We learned to love to-go Mexican food but most importantly, to-go margaritas. We sort of just transitioned into living together while I taught virtually and Brandon masked up to go to work each day. A year or so passed, then in 2021, I got a teaching job in Anna and “officially” moved in with Brandon. However, whenever the world’s open sign was turned back on, the next year came with its fair share of challenges. The aftermath of the “C word” pandemic really brought to light some of the different things we wanted in life and just how brief our dating season was.

April 2022 - April 2023 : pause for a brief intermission :)

Over the year we were apart, I truly believe we grew into the people we were meant to be. It’s so cliche, I know. But after a year had passed and a wonderful Facebook memory came along to slap me in the face, I reached out to Brandon. I let him know that I hoped life had brought him all the happiness he was looking for. After plenty of conversation, going back and forth between my head and my heart, I decided to go see his “new spot” to see how I felt when I saw him again. I will never forget just how happy he was and how everything simply fell into place after that. We started dating again shortly after that. While attempting to keep it to ourselves and away from friends and family, we were caught red handed by Mr. Brandon Guy at the lake. The smile on his face made me realize I had definitely made the right choice. Fast forward about a year and a half; I took ANOTHER leap of faith and moved back in with Brandon. I was sure to constantly annoy him with pictures of rings and reminders that I was wifey material, without a doubt. In a very Brandon fashion (iykyk), he dismissed my comments, changed the subject, and acted like it was nowhere near proposal time. Side note: I even talked to my hair dresser about the proposal deadline I had set in stone in my head that Brandon was totally unaware of.

Fast forward to November, 9th, 2024, a random Saturday evening; I had just gotten back home from visiting my parents but Brandon wanted to take a golf cart ride to the lake with his parents to walk their dogs. This was a very normal evening routine, so I thought nothing of it. However, I am not going to lie; I really wanted to chill on the couch and work on teacher things, but I decided to go. I threw on my SLIPPERS and got in the golf cart. Once we were at the lake, I got out to walk around, because we were supposed to be walking the dogs afterall… I remember him saying “okay ma, do you have it?” as Brandon lingered strangely close to me. I saw the box and then him down on one knee… total and utter shock is an understatement. I think I managed to nod my head and say “mhhmm” after he popped the question. I remember whispering to him that he was supposed to put the ring on but he said he couldn’t. He was feeling all the nerves and I was feeling all the shock. Afterwards, I was sure to give him some attitude about my attire but I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect (or a more Brandon) proposal.

Our story is a true tale of “people grow apart to then grow back together,” It is not picture perfect but it is perfect to us.

We CANNOT wait to share our day with you!!!

"Ditto"