Renee

It all started Cody was best friends with my step cousin who I was also very close to so he would attend our family parties, be at their house when I went and go with us to our family lake house each summer but we barely associated. When we got to high school that all changed. My sophomore year which was his junior year lacrosse season came around for us, I was on JV and they were on Varsity. After one my practices I went up to watch their scrimmage with my best friend to see how the team was and it was just something about Cody that caught my eye and I couldn’t stop talking to her about him. When they were done I sent my step cousin a text messaging asking to grab dinner with me and we did. I slowly began questioning him all about Cody. He suggested he would introduce us which I was petrified of the idea but went along with it. A couple days later we did a double date and instantly Cody and I clicked, became good friends and we’re inseparable from then on. Prom came around few months after and we ended up going together and that same night began dating but a few months later we broke it off and remained friends. As time went on he graduated, we met new friends, went through a few rough relationships and lost in touch. When I graduated HS Cody graduated from Marine Corp boot camp and my Aunt was throwing him a little party, invited me, I went and it turned out like we never lost in touch. After I left I kept getting texts from my family and step cousin saying “you two belong together, you two will get married and have a family one day." I laughed and texted them back saying “yeah right, he doesn’t even like me”. Little did I know that they were telling this to him and my step cousin was giving him a “talk" and Cody was saying the same exact thing I was. We stayed in touch, talked non stop, hung out and kept our friendship strong but there was still that spark between us. On April 15th 2010 tragically my step cousin and their other best friend went missing at our lake house and after a three days search for my step cousin and a five day for their best friend, they were found drowned in the lake. Cody has stuck with my family and I through the process, after many signs that we’re meant to be, three family vacations, tons of time together we made it official and now a ring later we're getting married! Although it seems a bit fast, our known quote is "when you know, you know." As far as this relationship/engagement goes  we have never been so sure of anything.