How we met
We are both active duty Marines stationed with the same unit on Cherry Point in North Carolina. We had seen each other around the unit for a while, but our first interaction was during a convoy from Cherry Point to Fort Bragg for a training exercise. We had stopped about half way there for a break. Ernie was standing by his truck with a large bag of miniature Reese’s cups. I asked him if I could have one and he looked in my eyes and said, “You can have two.” As lame and cheesy as that sounds, it made me laugh and it caught my attention.
A few weeks passed by before we spoke again. Ernie came up to me in the parking lot of our building and started up a conversation about giraffes (I love giraffes), soccer, and other fairly normal small talk topics. He told me that he and some of his friends were going to be playing a game of soccer the next day and if I gave him my number he would text me when they were about to go. Conveniently, the soccer game was cancelled the next morning. To this day, Ernie claims that there really was a game, but I think it was just a clever way of getting my number. Either way, it worked, and soon enough, we were texting, hanging out, and then dating.
how they asked
For our 1 year anniversary; we decided that instead of getting each other a gift we would get professional pictures taken together. We didn’t have any pictures that weren’t selfies taken on a cell phone, so we were both really excited about this. Our anniversary came and went and we kept forgetting about actually getting the pictures done. It wasn’t until almost 4 months after our anniversary that Ernie came home and told me that he had set up a session with a photographer. We got off of work, got dressed up and headed into downtown New Bern, North Carolina. Ernie and I both love New Bern, so this was the perfect place to get our pictures done. While we were getting pictures done, the photographer’s assistant was following us with an iPhone. She told me she was making videos for their Instagram page. We were about to take pictures by a really pretty fountain when one of the photographers came to help me fix my hair.
Little did I know that while she was fixing my hair, the other photographer was handing Ernie the engagement ring! When I turned around, Ernie leaned in and kissed me then asked how my nails looked. (I always told him to make sure my nails were done before he proposed to me.) I instantly knew what was about to happen, and I was so excited!
Ernie got down on one knee and, through all of my happy tears, I said yes! He turned me around and told me to say hi to our family and friends. The assistant with the iPhone wasn’t making videos for their Instagram. She was recording us on Facebook Live so everyone could be a part of our special moment! Every second of our engagement was absolutely perfect, and we couldn’t be happier.
