The Early Years

The first time I heard about Bailey was during a beach trip in 2016. I met both Hannah Burgess and Hannah Davidson on that trip and they told me about their friend that wanted to come but was doing an internship at Disney. I guess I had made quite an impression on that trip because when I was wandering around the Delta Chi house during our Halloween I was greeted with a loud “Skyler!!!” I turned around and Hannah D was dressed as Kuzco and the girl with her was dressed as Cindy Lou Who from The Grinch. That was when I first met Bailey, and I remember having so much fun sitting up in my room talking with her.

From then on I’d see her from time to time at “the house” and we would hang out in the chapter room, back porch, or chat up in my room. The first time I tried making a move was a Snapchat message where I said (after a few libations) “you’re very hot but I don’t know how to handle it.” While I liked the idea of us through college, in hindsight I think God was protecting us and giving us the time we both (but particularly I) needed to grow up.

She accompanied me as my date to both our 30th anniversary banquet and Spring Formal in New Orleans. This was the first time she had ever been to a Brazilian steakhouse (and little did we know it would be the first of many). She hung out with me one last time two days before I graduated, and I assumed that would be the last time I’d see Bailey.

Fortunately I was wrong - when I moved to Dallas our friendship was rekindled through her visits to see Hannah D. She helped me celebrate my first day at AT&T HQ with margaritas at Ruins and pie from Emporium, Halloween where she won a costume contest as Harley Quinn (entered at the last minute), and New Years where I kicked off “Sober 2020.” Speaking of, she came to visit one weekend before COVID and hyped me up to her friends that also came in only to find me chaperoning them through Deep Ellum and gracing them with BuzzedBrews (think Waffle House with alcohol) afterwards.

I think we really found ourselves get closer through the many weddings we were both involved with. As someone who NEVER dances, I am convinced that it was divine intervention (and maybe a few parking lot beers) that led me to ask her to dance during Hannah and Blanton’s wedding.

Getting Serious

In early 2023, Bailey let me know that she was coming into town and wanted to hang out if I was free. I took the afternoon off work and we went out in Main Street Grapevine to try the different wineries. While we stopped at Farina’s for a late lunch, Lamar Jackson signed a 5 year contract with the Ravens which started an eerie uptick in the performance of the teams I follow. We ended up going back to my place where we sang karaoke to each other (poorly). She told me that we could hang out Sunday if I was free and fortunately I didn’t have anything going on.

I went to church that Sunday morning and the homily was related to the Holy Spirit. It was then that I decided to change my prayer: not for God to bless me with someone to love but for the Holy Spirit to enter my heart and give me the wisdom to find a woman that will help me do God’s will.

From there I picked Bailey up from her hotel where I planned for us to do Texas Live! and maybe get some tickets to the Rangers game. They ended up being too expensive so we squatted in a booth on the balcony overlooking the big screen. We watched the Rangers and then the Stars. At some point Bailey showed me a picture of her at the wedding and I said “gosh, you look good” (she did). We left and I recall going to give her a fist bump but she grabbed and held my hand. I remember in that moment thinking if this could be a thing…weighing the pros and cons. After a quick visit to the Big Apple Cafe, we went home to walk Chevy where I asked several way too forward questions in her thoughts on becoming Catholic or moving to Dallas. That night we watched John Mulaney’s new standup special and I asked if she wanted to “platonically cuddle” (chivalry isn’t dead yet, folks).

After that night, I told her that I would think about the idea of us really pursuing a relationship. The idea of long distance concerned me and I’ll now admit that I was a bit intimidated by her father who she held in such high esteem through our FaceTimes after that weekend. After several months of talks with her, prayers with God, and finally a weekend at Caney Lake, I finally asked her to be my girlfriend on July 5th, 2023 (technically I asked her to flip my Claddaugh ring…IYKYK).

Dating

That decision ended up being the best of my life. Since then my life has been so much more full of love and enjoyment. We’d talk or FaceTime almost everyday, and thanks to her standby perks (shoutout again to Hannah D) she was able to come visit on a more frequent basis than distance would normally allow.

For her 29th birthday, we had a long weekend planned in the greater New Orleans area. We did beer garden trivia, a riverboat brunch cruise, the WWII museum with rooftop cocktails after, and finally a nice lunch at the Four Seasons capped off by an afternoon on Bourbon Street. It was on her actual birthday on the balcony of the Boot Scootin’ Bar where we first said “I Love You” to each other (romantic, right?).

In August of 2024, our relationship took the next big step when Bailey moved into an apartment 10 minutes north of me. It was nice being a quick drive away and not a full plane ride (plus the new IV hookup she had was a nice perk). It also accelerated discussions about our future together.

The Proposal

I’d begun thinking about proposing in the Summer of 2024 but wanted some time together in the same geographic area before taking the next step. After a weekend of her away in May 2025, I realized that she was the woman I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. With the help of some friends (Hannah B for the ring, Greg for the location, and Eric for the photographer contact), I planned the proposal for June 20, 2025.

I told her that I had a work meeting downtown that day and we’d go out to dinner with friends afterwards. That gave me the excuse to sneak down all my supplies for the setup and wait for her to come down. When she arrived at the building, we brought her up saying that the fourth member of our group was running late. We walked around the top floor looking at the Dallas skyline. We finally turned the corner into a room where rose petals and candles lined a walkway to the window where the sun was setting over Dallas. I walked her up, said a few words, prayed with her then knelt and popped the question…she said yes!

What’s Next?

Life has been fast and furious since the proposal, but all better now that we’re together. I am so excited that God has blessed me with such an amazing, funny, intelligent, and god-fearing woman in my life; and I’m beyond excited to celebrate the beginning of our lives together with you all!

And if you read this until the end, cheers to you 🍻

My friend Hannah Burgess was dating Blanton Burgess, who was a member of the Delta Chi fraternity at Louisiana Tech. Although Hannah and I both attended University of Louisiana at Monroe, I would sometimes tag along with her to hang out with Blanton and his friends at the Delta Chi house at LA Tech. I kept hearing from Hannah about her “favorite Delta Chi,” Skyler, who lived in the room across hall from Blanton at the fraternity house.

Skyler and I met at the back-to-school party for Delta Chi in 2016. Hannah and I had gone up to Blanton’s room to set down our purses. Skyler’s room across the hall was filled with our friends, so we went in. When I met Skyler, he was wearing a navy suit jacket adorned with white stars from the American flag. He had no shirt underneath and was wearing a MAGA hat. It’s safe to say, he made a lasting impression on me. I obviously did not make the same impression, as he does not remember this, and thinks we met on Halloween night.

That night we hung out on Halloween was what cemented our friendship. I remember feeling an instant sense of friendship with him and luckily documented the whole night with pictures, some of which I have posted in the gallery. Throughout our college years, Skyler and I remained good friends. I was his date to the 30th Anniversary Banquet of Delta Chi, where I met his father, and was also his date to formal, which was ironically in New Orleans, the city where we are now marrying. Skyler did make a couple of moves on me in college, all of which I politely declined. Skyler was definitely friend-zoned for a long time, poor thing.

Once we graduated, Skyler eventually settled down in the Dallas area, the same place where my friend Hannah Davidson was living at the time. Any time I was visiting Hannah in Dallas, we would reach out to Skyler to get together and hang out. We went on a Halloween and New Year’s Eve bar crawl together, as well as attended comedy shows and dueling piano shows.

After Hannah moved away from Dallas, I didn’t go back to Dallas for 3 years, and therefore, didn’t see Skyler for 3 years. We kept loosely in touch. He would always text me when a new Taylor Swift album came out and ask me for “the bangers.” I would reply to his Instagram and snapchat stories every once in a while if he said something funny.

In April of 2023, my friend Aliyah Wright was getting married in Dallas, where I was a bridesmaid. I was living in Covington, Louisiana at the time, and Hannah Burgess had told me that I should reach out to Skyler, saying he had matured and was in a Bible study with her husband Blanton. I texted Skyler seeing if he wanted to hang out before the wedding. Not only did he say yes, but he picked me up from the airport and took a half day off so that we could go tour the wineries down in Grapevine. He had a full itinerary of course, a trait from him I was not exposed to until that day.

After hanging out that Thursday, I was definitely crushing on Skyler. I had plans to meet him on Sunday after the wedding festivities were done, and I told myself that if he did anything that insinuated he was romantically interested in me, I’d go for it. When I was showing him a picture of me and Aliyah at the wedding, he told me I looked attractive, and so I took that as my sign.

When we were in the Uber home from our day at Texas Live, I grabbed his hand and held it, and I swear he went so still. I could HEAR him thinking. When we got to his house, we walked his sweet dog Chevy, and he started asking me way too forward questions such as how I want to raise my kids and where I could see myself settling down and how would I feel about a long-distance relationship? Definitely too soon after just a hand hold, but that’s Skyler for you! In all honestly, I respected that he wanted to have those conversations early, as he did not want to waste either of our time.

My favorite part about that night was when we got home from walking Chevy, and we decided to watch the new John Mulaney special. Trying to be respectful while also trying to make a move, Skyler asked me if I wanted to “platonically cuddle.” I was dying laughing inside, but I didn’t want to embarrass him by joking with him about the phrase so I just said yes of course, because I did genuinely want to! Now, I jokingly ask him to platonically cuddle with me all the time.

And ever since then, we’ve talked almost every day. Skyler asked me to be his girlfriend 2 months later, asking me to turn his Claddagh ring. I got to meet his sweet family, and spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with them, as well as Skyler doing the same with my family. A year into our relationship, I moved 8 minutes down the road from him in Flower Mound, Texas, and then we got engaged a year later. Our engagement was such a sweet and special moment. Skyler went all out, and we got to celebrate with a surprise engagement party the next day.

Life with Skyler to be described in one word is peaceful. Those of you who know Skyler would laugh at the fact that I called life with him peaceful, because Skyler as a person is so full of life, vibrant, goofy, and a little hot-headed, especially when it comes to football. But he is also kind, caring, and loyal. He takes care of his people, myself included. Skyler is my biggest cheerleader, showing me my potential in ways that I have never thought imaginable before. Throughout our many religious talks, he has taught me his beliefs of the Catholic Church and showed me there are many more similarities in our faiths (I grew up Baptist) than there are differences. He is my sponsor for the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) and will be by my side when I am received into full communion with the Catholic Church. He is who I turn to if I’m struggling, and he is who I turn to if I am excited about something. And that is what gives me peace. I am so blessed to have known Skyler as both a friend and a partner, and I think our love story is so sweet. I am so excited to marry him in January, and thank you for taking the time to travel and celebrate with us!!