I never imagined that I would find my soul mate, my one true love and best friend, at such a young age. I have truly been blessed in a way that I will forever be grateful for. Meeting Danny changed my life completely. However, when we first met in middle school through mutual friends and I had the typical middle school “crush” on the cute soccer player, I didn't have any idea what the future had in store for us. This September will mark the end of our seventh year dating each other.

The memories that we have shared over the years are countless and unforgettable. I will never forget the time when we were on our way to our High School Homecoming Football Game, dressed in formal dresses and tuxes, when Danny had to make an emergency stop by his house. He jumped out of the car and completely slipped and fell backward (because of the dress shoes), leaving grass stains on his tux!

Since Danny is a year older than me, I knew the time would come when he had to leave for college. It was natural for us to stay together while he experienced his first year of college, and I my senior year of high school. There was never any talk of breaking up “to experience the college life as a single person.” We simply knew that we were meant to be together.

After making it through a year apart I moved to Tallahassee to join Danny at FSU. With college came many more memories: from Halloween parties, where Danny dressed up as a Power Ranger, I as a Hippy to the countless football games. All of these were memories that were tucked away in our hearts and minds. Over time I began to realize that what Danny and I had was not the everyday run-of-the-mill relationship. I knew then, as I do now, that our love is something that comes along once in a lime time.

As the years moved on, we began talking about marriage. We both agreed, for our sake and our parents, that we would graduate from college before we got married. So with that perspective in mind, I began imagining about different ways and times when Danny would ask me to marry him. With college coming to a close, I poked and prodded him with questions and concerns. “So around what time of year are you going to ask? Do you still think after I graduate or before?” Those were questions that Danny dealt with daily. Every other time he might say, “Do you want me to tell you my plan?” To which I would immediately respond, “Please NO, I want it to be a complete surprise!” Danny did a great job of throwing me off.

The day when Danny got down on one knee seemed to be just a normal day in Bradenton. We were both home visiting our families. We planned on going to the beach that day, so I was going to pick him up and we would head out to the beach. When I went to get into my car I saw a balloon, a gift bag, and a CD. I was very surprised, and also a little confused. As I began to look at all the things, I thought to myself that maybe he wanted to surprise me with something sweet since the two weeks before we hadn’t really seen each other because he was out of town for work. The CD said “play me.” When I put the CD in, Michael Buble’s “I’ve Got a Crush on You” started to play. The gift bag had a card attached that said “I’ve got a crush on you” and had a note on the inside. Inside the bag was a six pack of bottled “Crush” orange soda. I was still sitting in my drive-way, starting to cry a little, and immediately called Danny to ask him what this was all about. He stammered something out that probably made no sense and said just come over and pick me up. I headed over and parked. When I walked up to the front door, I noticed it was slightly open. I pushed it open and began to yell his name to let him know I was there. There he was kneeling right in front of the door with the ring in hand. He managed to say something like “Gina, I love you, will you marry me?” That was when I lost it! And I mean LOST IT! I was a bumbling mess, screaming/crying saying “I don’t believe you” and “Is this for real?” And finally a YES! I had been dreaming about that moment for so long that it did not seem real to me, but it was!

The love that we have for each other is strong and unending. I can not wait for the day to walk down the isle and become Danny’s wife, and he my husband. I am eager to walk through life with my soul mate and experience all that is out there.