It all started back in November of 2017, when I saw a really cute, French, 19 year old hockey player named Louis on Bumble. (Louis told me that whenever people ask how we met, to say that we met at a Halloween party, sorry Lou!) Now on bumble, the girl has to message first within 24 hours, or else the message disappears. I swiped right, we matched, and my heart sunk a little. In a good way of course! I messaged him right away and said "hey cutie". Now I sat there and thought over that message over and over again wondering if I came off too strong, if it was just enough, did it sound smooth? I knew I wanted to lock this cute frenchman in. I was up at Merrimack College at the time, and he was playing junior hockey for the Northeast Generals. Right away we hit it off, and we were already making plans to hangout. I like to remind Louis all the time that I NEVER made plans to hangout with anyone from dating apps. It weirded me out. I obviously knew this was different, because I drove home from college for the weekend to go on my first date with him. To say I was nervous was an understatement. I think we can all agree first dates are the absolute worst, but the second he opened my car door I felt so at ease.

Lou's first word's to me were "what's good", and with that French accent, boy was I swooned instantly! Our first date consisted of a movie at the Braintree cinemas, and a walk around the plaza to find some souvenirs to bring back to France for his family. I felt like I had known him forever, and he said the same thing. Our first date went so well, and I was really hoping he felt the same way. Louis had asked me a couple days later if we could go on another date that next weekend, and I could not have been more excited. We went to another movie, plus a dinner at buffalo wild wings! I remember him looking at me the whole dinner, and he took a Snapchat of me, put a heart eye emoji, and sent it to a few of his friends. I felt on top of the world. It was time to drop Louis off at his billet families house, and he told me he wouldn't see me for a whole month, and my heart sunk. He said he was going back to France to play for the National Team but that he would see me when he got back. He shut the door and went inside, the second he got inside, I started crying. I started crying because I told myself "this is it. he's never going to talk to me again. He's going to go back to France, forget all about me, and move on". That's when I knew he was the one for me only on the second date because I was crying over him, he had me hooked after two dates. Creepy? Probably. Thank god we're engaged now and it looks kind of cute? Anywho, Louis kept his promise, and we talked everyday while he was in France. I was wide awake at 4 am every single day because I was so excited to talk to him. New Years Eve came around and I knew Lou was flying back to the US. I was waiting to hear from him all day, and 7 pm rolls around- nothing.

I was standing in the kitchen with my mom and she said to me "are you going to see that Louis guy?" I said to her "I have no idea, I haven't heard from him all day, probably not at this point", in a really annoyed voice. Within 20 minutes, I get a text from Lou saying he's landed, and asking where we're going tonight. I was beaming. I went and picked him up, and we went to Ming Dynasty for dinner. The dinner was horrible, and we laugh about it today, but I didn't even care because I was just so excited to see him and that he chose to be with me on NYE. Fast forward three weeks later, and we made it official on January 19, 2018. That was the beginning to our forever.

We spent almost every single day together during his junior hockey days that year. He would stay over most nights, I would drive him to the rink an hour away at 6 am every single morning, I would pick him up from his billet house in Abington after work, and do it over and over again. That was our routine (and why I put 30k miles on my car in two years). He went home to France that Summer, and that was also the beginning to our distance journey. It was also my first time traveling solo, and to Europe! The following year was a new year of junior hockey, and he was now with the most amazing billet family in Plymouth (Hi Rebecca, Fishie, Hannah, and Jake)!! Lou and I were so blessed to have the O'dowds for his second year of juniors where they are literally family, and have been with us through everything. We had family bowling nights, we went to their school plays, family dinner nights, hangout nights, you name it and we had it. Those were our best memories and it made his last year of juniors so memorable.

I sent Louis off to Lake Superior State for his freshman year with a pit in my stomach wondering if this was going to be it for us. I knew I wanted to be with him forever, but I also knew that he needed to spread his wings, play hockey, grow up on his own, and learn this new life on his own. I thought to myself, "I pray it works for us, but if it doesn't, it doesn't." I knew that him going to college for four years, and me being at home, working was not going to be easy for us. That meant sacrifices, me taking time off from work to visit him throughout the year, spending lots of money on flights back and forth etc. It was a true sacrifice if I wanted to make this work. Hockey is his dream. He is here to get his degree and play hockey. Those 4 years at LSSU were some of the hardest, but most rewarding years of our lives. We both learned so much about ourselves, about each other. I met the most amazing friends at Lake State, we had so many great memories like road trips, championships, we got to be there to capture our friends engagement (Hi Jacob and Naomi!), I was there to see Louis score two hat tricks, pack my car up and drive to Michigan and live with him at school for two months, nanny for an amazing family who taught me so much, and just play some of his best hockey in his career. My favorite thing is to watch him play. I had been nagging Lou all of his senior year about getting engaged. Poor guy. He kept telling me to stop hoping because it wasn't coming anytime soon. He was very convincing because I always get my hopes up for everything, and thought there was no way that he was prepared and ready to be engaged right after graduating college.

As the summer was approaching, it seemed to be the hot topic between my family and friends as they asked me if I thought it was coming soon. I was hoping it was coming in the near future and not too long of a wait, but I truly didn't know. I was convinced it wasn't happening this summer, until I was packing getting ready for my yearly summer trip to France, and I realized that if we were to get engaged this year, the only time to celebrate with his family would be this summer before we move. I got myself all psyched thinking omg is it going to happen in France so we can celebrate with his family? We get to France and Louis is acting so normal. He says he wasn't acting normal, but to me he was. We got to Amsterdam and it was the most magical place ever. Again, it seemed like any other trip we've taken. Excitement over a new place, new views, new food. Nothing out of the ordinary, especially after a few days going by and nothing had happened. We were taking a nap before going on a boat cruise for dinner, and I thought maybe this could be it, but also told myself again there's no way because I don't want to be disappointed. I fell asleep, and when I woke up, Lou was on his phone and he still hadn't napped. He said he couldn't fall asleep. I thought that was strange. We got ready for our date, I didn't see Lou try to slip a box into his pocket or act weird when we were leaving so I thought okay you're just getting in your head. He asked to hold my purse, and I let him. To most people that might seem like a dead give away, but wherever we go Lou holds my bags, jacket, purse so I am used to it! The boat cruise is 2 hours long, and an hour and a half goes by and nothing happened. By this time I am positive it's not happening. I notice Lou is on his phone a lot, and I feel like an idiot because I am sitting on the boat taking in the views, while he's sitting on his phone. I got annoyed with him and asked him to put his phone away. He looked at me and said he was sorry, looked a little nervous and then got up to get a drink. He came back, and sat on the opposite side of me. I had a blanket wrapped around me and I was holding a glass of champagne. He took the blanket off of me, along with the blanket, and I said "hey, what are you doing, I want those!" lol. He told me I didn't need them, and I noticed his body was turned to the side as if he was hiding something, I immediately started shaking and crying because I realized what was happening. He got on one knee, and from there everything went black. Like I literally blacked out. I had to ask him what he even said because I don't remember. I actually didn't even look at the ring for about 5 minutes because I was in shock. I was bawling my eyes out so hard and Louis said "just so you know, there are two women with cameras if you look up", so I had to pull myself together! It turns out he was texting the photographers telling them where we were to make sure they knew we were coming up on the bridge and they had their cameras ready to go! I felt so bad for getting snippy at him. He had also slipped the box into my purse, and had it in there the whole time. This was the best day of my life, and to know he did all of this for me to make sure I felt special just couldn't have topped the moment or day and more.

From the day I met Louis, he has shown me a type of love that I wish everyone could experience. I have never opened a car door on my own, makes sure I have a full belly after a long day of work, protects me, makes sure to tell me how beautiful I am 10x a day, showers me with love and affection every second of everyday, listens to me when I need to vent, and has been there for me through thick and thin. I could not have asked for a better man to be my husband the future father to our children, and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I can't wait to have you all there to watch me marry the love of my life.