𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: I took the Bumble app so "serious" that I felt it appropriate to start a conversation by sending a waving emoji. Shortly after, Joel told me he lived in NJ and I was like well.. that's the end of that. I was clearly mistaken because it was only the beginning.                                                                                                                                                                   𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: Emojis, memes, and facial expressions. That’s how I normally communicate. Perfect start.

𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: A ton of facetimes, endless texts, and a bunch of calls later, I planned a visit to NJ. By myself. In the middle of a snowstorm. I had to take an Uber from the airport to his apartment. Long story short, risk well worth it. I cannot say that I wasn't scared for my life; however, I was as safe as I could be. Joel took me on a road trip around NJ, Washington D.C., and NYC.                                                                                                                                             𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: Yeah, not shoving snow, moving my car to then lose my parking spot. Andrea wanted the NYC experience, well taking an Uber is one of them. One of the best road trips I have ever done. I did wing it 😊

𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: Four cancelled flights to NJ, having to book a flight to Philadelphia, and absolutely no sleep, Joel picked me up from Philly to take me to NJ. Then, we loaded a van and Joel's car to drive from NJ to FL. Nothing like a good 20+ hour road trip. Can't forget the off-roading. Feel free to ask for details ;)                                                                                                                                                                       𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: Drove 2 hours from NJ to Philly and then 2 hours back. Let’s just say Hertz doesn’t clean their cars properly. The van smelled like a NYC yellow cab during a hot summer. About the off-roading adventure, don’t blindly follow the car in front of you, especially at night! It felt good to be back home.

𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: Joel and I always said we would get a dog together once he moved down. We started browsing and saw this chocolate lab. We went to the store, got details, and we said we would wait it out. Then, on December 28th, I told Joel that it was Colombian "April fools" and we should play around with my mom and have her come over because we were going to "buy the chocolate lab". It was a playful moment, until it wasn't. My mom came over. We got in the car. We got him. We brought him home. We cannot live without him.                                                                                                                                      𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: During the “waiting period” I kept going to the website to see if Comet was still available. Multiple times a day for like a week… Once Andrea told me about the Colombian April Fools and pranking her mom, I thought to myself, yeah, we are not fooling around. Let me make sure we have the credit card. The rest is history. We have the most beautiful chocolate lab there is.

𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: After a work trip to Gainesville, Joel planned part 2 to St. Augustine. We arrived at the hotel. We overslept a nap. It was raining pretty hard. Nothing was open for food. You don’t understand.. it took like an hour of Google searching and we didn’t find a thing. Yet, Joel insisted that we go find food. We grab the car and immediately, Joel says let’s go check out the beach down the street. What happened to the “I’m starving” Joebie? We will never know. We park, and I am super excited taking pictures of the waves and the moon. I see some stairs and I’m like let’s do timer pictures! This is pretty normal for me. I love picture memories. For Joel, it’s his worst nightmare. After a few tries at this picture, on the third one.. Joel just turns around and gives me his back. I was slightly confused because this one was perfectly timed and wouldn’t be blurry. But, I was like well.. he isn’t complaining yet so more pictures for me. Then he turns around and looks at me. I looked at him and then looked down at his hand and he was holding this sparkly ring. I immediately covered my face because I was not sure what was happening. Also, I think I was just reminding myself to breathe. Joel gets on one knee and *very slowly.. I mean speaking whale (finding Nemo reference) slowly* says “will you marry me?”. I said yes, fairly immediately, and took the ring from him. Then I was like wait this is you, and he just looks at me, takes it back, and again *very slowly* says “yes, for that part.. you have to give me your hand”. As cliché as it sounds, my world stopped spinning for a bit. My little girl dreams came true, and I soaked every second in. I was completely surprised, it was intimate, and it was all in Joebie fashion. I love you, Joel. 🤍                                                                                                                                     𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍: Well, Andrea pretty much explained everything. One correction though. Before I got on one knee (Remember, we are standing in the sand. I have to get my footing right, one missed step and there I go with the ring) Andrea took the ring from my hand. I was like, well this isn’t supposed to happen. How do I ask for the ring back? Andrea realized it on her own. Then I got on one knee. Now we did end up getting food, some good old cold cheeseburgers from MC.