One night my mom and I wanted to have a girl's night out. We decided to go out for drinks and ended up at Cactus Jacks in Temple, Texas. There was a good crowd and everyone was having fun karaoking horribly. My mom noticed one man in particular and tried to get me to go talk to him, but I was too shy. However, after a few drinks, he overheard us and came up to me, introduced himself as Jeff Quail, and told me that I was going to sing a duet with him. Thankfully the bar wasn't taking any more requests so, instead of singing, we spent the rest of the night chatting and getting to know each other. Immediately I noticed that he had the most amazing smile and the cutest laugh and after talking to him for just a few minutes I realized that he was a genuine and caring person.

We never had a real first date. Jeff is in the army and he left for the National Training Center in California just a week after we met. But, I guess you could say our first date was at his house when I helped him pack before he left. Thirty days later he was home again. I was so happy to have him back! However, just a couple of days after he returned, I got a phone call from Jeff. He told me that his unit had been deployed to Louisiana to help with the relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina. My heart was torn. I was glad that he could be there to help with the recovery efforts but I knew that I would miss him very much. Later that day, I went over to his house to help him pack his bags. He asked me to wait for him. I looked around the room at all the gear on the floor and in that moment I knew. I knew that waiting for him to come home would be the rest of my life, and that he was worth waiting for every minute he was away.

About two years later, Jeff was home for his two weeks of R&R leave during his 15 month deployment to Iraq. We were just about to leave to have dinner with my family and I was in the bathroom finishing getting ready. All of the sudden, Jeff was in the doorway, on his knees, asking me to marry him. He kept telling me that he had had other plans for the proposal and that he had been thinking about it since he left for his deployment, but that he had had the ring in his pocket for so long, he couldn't wait anymore, and he wanted to ask me right then. I was SO surprised! I knew he was going to ask me someday, I just never thought it was going to be at that moment, while I was in the bathroom getting ready for dinner. It was completely perfect though. If he had taken me out to dinner or done something more elaborate, I would have suspected it. As it began to sink in, I had to run outside to call my mom and friends because I was embarrassed that Jeff would hear me screaming. We were all so excited. My hand shook the whole night as I showed everyone my ring.

Our wedding was on February 23, 2008. As I walked out to the ceremony I started to get nervous, I wanted to make sure I looked perfect for Jeff. Stepping down aisle I had butterflies in my stomach. I wanted to run, but I was shaking as I stepped slowly, in time with the music. Everyone was betting that I would cry, so I was doing my best not to. It was all to no avail though as I felt my eyes tearing up. Somehow I made it through the ceremony.

At the reception, I got the biggest surprise. We hadn't planned on going on a honeymoon, but after the toast, Jeff announced that we were going to Maui, "if I wanted to go." I honestly have never been so surprised! Apparently he had been working on the plans for weeks and everyone else knew, except me. That wasn't the only surprise he had in store for the night. We were planning to go directly home on our wedding night because we lived close to the site of the wedding reception. However, as we were dancing our first dance together Jeff, now my husband, whispered to me that we weren't going home. Instead, he had made plans to take me to an amazing bed and breakfast in Salado, Texas. I truly married an amazing man who turned out to be full of the most wonderful surprises. It was the most perfect day I could have ever imagined!

For me, the best thing about being married is knowing that I get to spend the rest of my life with my best friend. No matter what happens, he is there by my side. We laugh all the time, and no matter how goofy we are, we know we can always be ourselves around each other. Unlike most couples, we are never sure when or for how long we will be apart again, so we treat everyday like it is the first and the last.