Renee

Jeff and I met through the Sound of the South, the enormous, legendary marching band from Troy University. I was a freshman piccolo player, and he was a senior trombonist. Our relationship was a little rough, at first. I had just gotten out of a heart-break induced depression, and I was starting to see someone new, but it wasn't working out - long distance and a huge cultural difference. Jeff became my go-to man, my confidant. Whatever was bothering me, I would tell him about it, and he would help me however he could. We started hanging out and going for walking adventures; most of the time it was just up the road to Sonic or McDonalds for ice cream at 9 or 10 at night, and back.  We used the walks to get to know each other better, playing question games and telling about ourselves more and more. Within a month and a half, we knew each other well enough to want to consider dating. We didn't start dating right off the bat. I ended up coming down with pneumonia. Jeff and I got back to the dorm room after an away football game, and I don't remember much about that night. Apparently, I had a fever above 103 and blacked out. I remember Jeff getting me to the hospital, then we finally got back to the dorm around 4 in the morning. The next day, Alfredo (the man I had started seeing) was by my side when I woke, but I found out bad news about him. He had to go back to Mexico. And I figured something out about myself. When I woke and saw Alfredo instead of Jeff, I was a little heartbroken. I wanted to be with Jeff, not anybody else. So, at the end of September 2010, Jeff and I officially started dating. The whole band found out eventually, and it was almost a celebration; every one of our friends responded like "About damn time!" It was good, though. In May of 2011, Jeff and I moved into a two-bedroom apartment together, because of campus housing changes, band, and for financial support. He would give me some protection from the world, and we could help support each other as he continued into extra years of school thanks to graduation delays. We now both have jobs, and we have a dog. I am now a junior at Troy, and he is about to intern, starting in January 2013. On our second anniversary, September 20, 2012, Jeff invited me on a walk with him, and he took me to a little lake on campus, called the lagoon. It was there, in the same place where we confessed our attractions to each other, that he proposed to me in the dorkiest but most loving way possible: "My favorite pokemon is Nidoking... But in the games, Nidoking has a female counterpart. (kneel) Will you be my Nidoqueen?" I said yes!