In September of 2007 I began an internship at Dolphin Research Center in the Florida Keys. I quickly bonded with all of my internship buddies, and one in particular. Isaac Perry was his name. He was hilarious and I felt like I had known him my whole life, not just a few weeks. After an all day kayaking adventure and dinner on a tiki-torch lit island, there was no more denying that our friendship was special. In fact after that day kayaking, my sister who had come to visit for a few days told me “I think you are going to marry Isaac.” I explained to my sister how ridiculous that was, I didn’t like him like that and we were just friends. I’m not sure who I was trying to convince more, my sister or myself. She grinned and said “okay suuuure, just wait. You’re going to marry him.”

A few weeks after my sister left, Isaac said he wanted to give us a try. We hesitantly moved out of the friend zone, unsure if our relationship was the real deal or a summer fling. Four years later, on September 3, 2011, he asked me to be his wife!

Here’s how it happened:

I had to work at the restaurant on Friday night and finished my shift at about 10:30pm. I sent Isaac a text telling him I was going over to my friend Amber’s house after work for a little while. Of course he responded with “Sure, that sounds good!”, but was probably dying sitting at home waiting! I got home around midnight and went upstairs to take a shower. After showering, I walked into my bedroom and found a single balloon floating above my bed with a picture of us tied to the end. It was a picture from when we first met, at the Dolphin Research Center.

I thought Isaac was just being sweet on the anniversary of us meeting each other. He is definitely a romantic and often does nice gestures for no reason. When I opened the door to my bedroom, I realized it might be something more. The hallway was filled with more balloons, two pictures attached to the ends. They were photos from my parent’s wedding day and his parent’s wedding day. I stared at the pictures for a solid 20 seconds saying to myself  is this really happening right now? Is this what I think it is?!

I walked downstairs to my office area to find a room full of balloons, each one holding a picture of us suspended in the air. I stood in the middle of the room feeling dizzy, and like time had suddenly stopped. I felt like my own body was being held up by the helium-filled balloons! Isaac materialized out of nowhere with tears in his eyes and said:

“I was going through photos of us today, looking back on all of the memories. I realized that every single moment since the day we met has led up to this moment here.”

He got on one knee, pulled out a ring, and asked me to marry him!!

I didn’t cry, I just stood there staring at him. I kissed him and said “of course I will!” I don’t know if I said it out loud, but in my head I just kept saying “is this real??? Is this REAL???” I knew that a proposal was going to happen sometime in the next year, but I never thought it would happen at 12:30 in the morning after a 13-hour work day. It wasn’t a hot air balloon ride, it wasn’t on the jumbo screen at a baseball game, it wasn’t at a five star restaurant. It was in my home, surrounded by memories from our past four years together. It could not have been more perfect.

I knew from the day we met that we would always be a part of each others lives. Little did I know that it would be in form of husband and wife. I am so blessed!