It all started at Bagley Junior High School. Jeremy was on the BJHS Basketball team and I was a cheerleader. When the season was over, Jeremy called me to ask me to the Basketball banquet.

This was a huge deal for me as he was in the 8th grade, and I was a year younger. I still remember the night he called to ask me to go with him, I already had a crush on him, so I immediately started crying when we hung up.

(I thought it was the best (and coolest) day of my life, little did I know that day would come 16 years later.)

Fast forward to Jeremy's 16th birthday- he started driving so we started dating and dated periodically throughout High School.

After Jeremy graduated and moved to Arkansas for college, we continued to keep in touch and the next year I graduated and left for Troy University, but would occassionally meet up on random visits home during the college years.

After leaving Troy, I moved to Charleston, SC for several years until I was 29. During this time Jeremy had moved back home to Alabama from college in Arkansas.

We still kept in touch- random text messages, FaceTime calls and social media. We always talked about how much we missed each other, but we knew distance was our issue.

Now we are back to December 18th, 2021. I was 29 years old and missing home. I planned an entire week's visit for Christmas break- something I had never done while living in Charleston.

As I had booked my flight weeks in advance- I knew there was one person I wanted to hang out with while I was home... Jeremy Chappell.

I sent him a message saying I would be home for Christmas. We immediately made plans to meet up the first night I arrived back in Alabama.

My December 18, 2021 Chistmas visit home finally arrived and it was just a few hours into the night, he said "I want to be with you, it's always been you. Let's do this for real this time."

(Notice the words "this time"? That's because our dating history goes back to his 8th grade basketball banquet in 2005, when before drivers licenses, in Jr. High, we spent nights going over to each other's house to watch movies.)

We spent every single day of my visit home together. When it came time for me to fly back, knowing that we didn't want to be away from each other, Jeremy said, "I'm coming back with you, and we will figure it out as we go." Thankfully, he worked remote and could work from anywhere. So, 2 of us boarded the plane headed back to Charleston.

Finally, after a few months and several sky miles later, we knew we were eventually going to have to make a decision on being permanently together in one place.

On March 4, 2022, I took a leap of faith, left my job and all my things in my Charleston apartment, and came back home!

We both knew that the right decision for both of us was to be together in Alabama. Our families and friends were all home in Alabama, and we knew that we wanted to raise children in the same great community that we enjoyed in our youth.

(A few months later Jeremy and I did go back to Charleston one last time to pack up my things and get them back home.)

After years of dating each other and dating other people along the way- it never stopped us from always keeping in touch or reaching out when we missed each other, so....

On September 29th, 2023, Jeremy proposed.

It wasn't planned out; it wasn't anything crazy- it was simply in his living room one evening as we were getting ready for a dinner date, I walked into the living room where he was down on one knee and said, "I can't wait any longer."

More words were said as we laughed, cried and hugged each other tight. I want to end "Our Story" with a simple phrase Jeremy told me when we reunited in Christmas of 2021 - he said, "It was always you."

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