Tessa

Justin and I met for the first time at Meet The Raiders in the summer of 2005 when we were both going into our Junior year of high school. We both played fall sports for East Paulding--he played football and I played softball. I thought he was the cutest boy I'd ever seen and quickly developed a small crush. Little did we know, we had talked to each other on the phone several times in the years prior because of mutual friends. We were even at the same places at the same time throughout our lives! One in particular: meeting the professional wrestler Bill Goldberg at a grocery store when he was in Georgia for a signing! Fate, right? At the beginning of our Junior year, we were friends. A simple, "Hello," or a smile when we passed each other in the hallway was what you could expect. I thought he was shy [psht] and figured I'd have to make the first move if I wanted to talk to him. So that's exactly what I did. One day, I told him every girl in the school liked him--he was the new guy that year, sorta (he was actually just returning from a couple years away at Winder Barrow High), and people noticed how his looks changed that went to middle school with him--so when he asked who all, I decided to write him a letter. After I threw many of my friends under the bus who had crushes on him as well, I admitted my crush at the end of the letter. At the time, we were both 'talking' to other people but those relationships ended quickly after I found out he felt the same way! :) After getting to know each other, we started dating on November 18, 2005. No one thought we'd make it this long, not even us! We've had our struggles, many ups and downs, but you can't fight what's meant to be. Five years and four months later, he proposed. On March 18, 2011, I said "YES" to my best friend. Here's the story: Ok, so you know how Kennesaw State U gives out those little packets of coupons for us poor college kids? Well, you do now. Anyway, there was a coupon for a free appetizer of barbeque shrimp (YUM) at Ruth's Chris Steak House and I told him I'd always wanted to go there. He agreed and said it sounded good so we decided to go that Friday since we rarely were able to hang out on the 18th to celebrate another happy month. It also happened to be his Nina's birthday, who had recently passed, so I was happy to spend the evening with him since it's a hard day to get through the first time she's not there to tell, "Happy Birthday," to. So we get dressed all pretty since it's a nice restaurant (but we wore jeans and laughed because everyone else was wearing, like, prom dresses and stuff) and walk right in to a table near the wall. After we order and start eating, I could notice he was super nervous. Shaking, even. I dismissed it because he was acting the same way on our 5th anniversary at Maggiano's, so I told him to calm down. He didn't calm down. He made the remark, "I feel like you think I'm gonna propose and I hate disappointing you like that." I reassured him that I knew it'd happen one day--we had talked about it before--and that I was not disappointed at all. He said, "Well I talked to your Dad officially..." This surprised me but I knew he'd mentioned it in passing before, like, 'Oh one day...' blah blah blah. So I said, "Cool," and went about eating my meal. I really loved the shrimp. Really. Loved. It. Then he hit me with it: "I told him I was gonna do it today." Stunned, I asked, "Whaaat?" and I looked up to find him coming around the side of the table to get on his knee. "Will you marry me?" he asked. I was numb, so I kept asking, "Are you serious?!" Finally, he said, "Yes, I'm serious! Will you marry me!"...... Lol. I said YYYEEESSSS! And then proceeded to text/call my family in the middle of the meal. I lost my appetite so it was ok. Probably rude to talk non-stop on my cell phone in such a nice restaurant but I didn't care. I was getting married and I had to tell people! And here we are! Planning to get married on July 6, 2012. It's been a long journey but I'm so excited to see what the future holds.