I can say for me, it was not love at first sight the first time I met Anthony. Lol. The first time I remember seeing him, was at junior high going down the stairs. He was this skinny thing with big floppy hair and played around too much. At the basketball games other girls would just "swoon" over Anthony VanGessel, and I had no idea why!

Well we had mutual friends and he constantly had everyone laughing, myself included. I started to see why people liked him so much. He was sweet, funny, and kind-hearted. We became friends and would chat on instant message about our other relationship problems. (At this point he was a freshman in high school and I was an 8th grader in junior high).

Once I got to high school I saw Anthony again. He cut all of that hair out of his face and right in that moment, I was on the verge of being one of those girls who "swoon" over Anthony VanGessel. However, that year we just kept our relationship at the friendship level.

The next year, me as a sophomore and he as a junior, began to turn that friendship into a "boyfriend/girlfriend" relationship. We were a little rocky at first, but December 5, 2008 was when he OFFICIALLY asked me to be his girlfriend! He had the music, the signs in the yard, and the flowers.. how could I say no?! He "swooned" me right out of no where.

Homecomings, proms, softball and baseball games, parties, all the other stuff you do in high school... we did together. In college there were a couple rough patches, but through it all he was always my best friend and I knew I could always count on him.

God had a plan when he put Anthony VanGessel in my life and I am so excited I get to spend the rest of it with him by my side.

The first time I saw Meredith was in junior high during lunch hour. I was talking with my buddies and I see her walking on the side walk in this light blue dress. It was like one of those movies where the pretty girl walks by and everything else just kind of stops. Well, it wasn't that dramatic but I couldn't help but stare.

Even though I had a crush on Meredith we remained only friends in junior high. Once I moved to high school the next year the crush faded because I never really saw her. But when she got to high school the year after that, those feelings came back.I obviously wasn't alone in the "crushing" department because one day during lunch as I was talking to some friends, I felt something hit me in the back. I turn around to see what it was and I see Meredith (poorly) hiding behind a column holding a bag of sugar babies and giggling with her friend. Apparently that was her way of flirting.

We did not start our relationship right after the throwing of the sugar babies (suprisingly), but the flirting did continue. I think the first time it really hit me that she was something special was on a homecoming night. Fate, coincidence, or whatever else you want to call it, interviened that night. We both went with other dates (who were just friends) to this dance. After a couple of songs my date left me. I looked over and saw Meredith was dateless too. I asked her where her date was and she told me that he bolted as soon as they took pictures.  I couldn't say I was too upset about it because we ended up dancing and laughing the rest of the night. May I also mention that her dress was the same color as the vest that I had on, so it made for perfect pictures.

After that night our friendship turned into a more romantic relationship. We stayed together the rest of high school and once I graduated I went to Louisiana College on a baseball scholorship, which was in Pineville, so I got to be close to home and to her.

Once she graduated a year later she got accepted to her first college choice which was University of Louisiana at Monroe. I prayed about it and as much as I loved baseball, I loved her more and God put it on my heart to follow her. College was great for the most part, other than the couple bumps we hit. We worked through those hardships and moved on.

I graduated college in May 2014 and got accepted into the State Police Academy in Novemeber of the same year. Even though we were living on the opposite side of the state, we still made it work. The hardest 19 weeks of my life were spent in the State Police Academy, but Meredith was there every step of the way. There were many times that I was ready to throw in the towel and she encouraged me to keep pursuing my dream, which I did.

We have many many memories together and I cannot wait to make more.