I first noticed her smile in the crowd at dance class and was shocked when she picked me out and asked me to dance. Our first dance was a couple's line dance, the cowboy cha-cha. I was trying to pay attention to the instructor, but having a hard time with a beautiful girl tucked close under my arm. We made it through the dance out of sync, bumping into each other and missing steps but having a blast regardless. After the dance was over I still hung around, wanting to get to know her but too awkward and shy to talk. Yet still she seemed hesitant to leave as she made small talk and discussed dances until whisked away.

After class I drove home giddy with excitement and hoped for the next time I would see her. A few months and a few dances later found her undeterred by me shyly trying (and mostly failing) to converse. Finally after the end of one class I got up the nerve and we stayed and talked until they shut off the lights. I made up my mind that I was going to ask her out next time I saw her. The downside was that the next dance class wasn't for at least 2 months. Luckily for me she had the same idea and I got a friend request out of the blue. I was perplexed at how she found me, but still accepted the request and started messaging back and forth with her.

A little bit of time spent getting to know her and discovering things about us that just fit made me even more sure I wanted to go out with her. So I asked her to dinner and a movie and away we went. Two years later, after projects, open conversations, equipment deliveries, hurt feelings, apologies, prayer, and adventures together I knew she was the one for me.

The next chapter of our story starts the same way the first one did, with me nervously but joyfully dancing around with a beautiful girl tucked under my arm. But she doesn't know that my nervousness is because I have a ring in my pocket and I'm about to drop to one knee to ask her to spend the rest of her life with me.