How We Met
Dalton and I both graduated high school from a small-town school in Mississippi. He was one grade older than I was, but we did not really come to know each other until the end of Dalton’s senior year of high school. It all started through a mutual friend of ours, Brady, whom I had class with, and Dalton had baseball practice with. Each morning, Brady would come into the classroom and talk to me about what Dalton had said at baseball practice the previous day, and how Dalton would love to meet me. This continued for about 2 weeks, and finally our mutual friend talked me into coming to their last baseball game. So, my sister, a couple friends, and I loaded up and decided to go to the baseball game that spring of 2013. Arriving late, we were there just in time to see the last couple innings of the game. Unfortunately, our team did not win, and the boy’s season was over. Brady immediately came out of the dugout and asked if we were interested in all going to eat together. Excitedly, I said yes. Dalton soon came out and spoke with his family, while us girls loaded up in our car. Brady, Dalton, and one other friend loaded up into one of their vehicles, and we all headed out to go eat. Buffalo Wild Wings was the chosen place. At this point, I still had not officially met Dalton. We arrived in the parking lot, and I bashfully got out of the car and began to make my way inside. I walked inside to put our name on the list and took a seat at the end of a long wooden bench. That is when Mr. Handsome himself walked into the restaurant all dirty in his baseball uniform, and he proceeded to slide horizontally on the long wooden bench towards me. When he gently bumped into me at the end, he looked at me and said, “how are you doing?” To which I busted out laughing because he had just made quite the presentation. From that moment on, our conversations were unstoppable; we ate and talked all night long. Secretly, Dalton purchased my meal that night, and I was so confused when the waitress did not bring my bill out. He just smirked and looked at me with that grin that is all too familiar now-a-days. I knew instantly what had happened. From that day forward, we hung out at every restaurant booth and backroad that town had to offer. When high school friends faded, we found ourselves back in those same places, together. It was the spark of our relationship.
How They Asked
Fast forward 6 years, we had survived the college years as a couple, both attending Mississippi State University. After both graduating with our bachelor’s degrees, I went back to get my masters, and Dalton went to work for a family oilfield business located in Texas. For the first time in 5 years, we were trying this long distance thing, and to our delight works as well as long distance can. Dalton and I found a love for the sand and salty water. Over the years, we always found a way to make our way to the beach. After graduating in May of 2019, I am currently living in Mississippi and studying for the Certified Public Accounting exam, and Dalton is still working in Texas; therefore, vacations and visiting time is limited for us. Dalton recommended that we go to the beach for Labor Day. At first, I was skeptical, but he reluctantly talked me into it. Little did I know, Dalton had already planned this whole weekend, invited all our friends, and booked the room all to surprise me at the beach. The day before we left, he told me who all was planning to come, and I could not have been more excited. I packed my things, and we were headed down to Gulf Shores, Alabama. Dalton, our friends, and I played on the beach, took the boat out to the islands, ate to our hearts content, and had a marvelous first two days. It was Saturday afternoon when my friends insisted that we go to the room and start getting ready for our dinner reservations. In the past, we typically dress up one night, take pictures, and splurge at a high-end restaurant. I was told this was the night, and we all began to get ready. The boys, of course, got ready faster than we did, and since “[we] were taking forever,” the boys went ahead and made their way to the beach where we had all agreed to take the pictures. A few final touches to our hair and makeup, we were finally ready, so we began to make our way to the parking garage. We found our car and drove to the public beach where we had agreed to meet up. We searched for the boys’ truck, which we could not find, so we called them, and they said they were already at the beach waiting on us. We got out and began to make our way down the 10-minute board walk. We talked about the pictures we wanted to take and how impatient the boys were having already walked to the beach. After 10 long minutes of walking down the board walk in heels, we finally reached the end where I saw most of our friends waiting on our arrival. I proceeded to look down to take off my heels, so I could walk in the sand and catch up with my friends. In the distance I heard a plane, but I assumed it was the beach advertisements flown regularly in Orange Beach, Alabama. Before I could get my other heel off, my friends were screaming to me, “OLIVIA, LOOK UP, LOOK UP!” I gazed into the sky to see a plane pulling a banner behind it saying, “Olivia, Will You Marry Me?” My heart dropped instantly, and I immediately knew we were not there to take pictures anymore. As tears filled my eyes, my friends pointed me to Dalton, who was about a 2-minute walk away, down by the ocean. As I made my long walk to him, the plane continued to circle us time after time. Dalton had made a rose petal path all the way to him, and the closer I got to him, I could see there were large picture frames placed in the sand of us together. Dalton had 6 picture frames filled with a picture from each year we have been together. When I finally made it to him, we were both at such a loss for words, we just stared at each other. With the waves crashing against the shore and the hum from the plane flying up above us, it was a perfect moment in which time stood still. After the proposal, our friends and visitors on the beach flooded to us. We were all so happy. Many, many pictures were taken at this point, but not the same kind of pictures I thought we were coming to take!! Afterwards, we continued to the restaurant as planned, while celebrating and dancing all night long, together, with our close friends. It was an absolutely perfect day.
