Once Cameron sent me the first message, we emailed each other fairly frequently for a few weeks. He eventually asked to take me out, but I was skeptical about the whole online dating thing to begin with, so it took me a little while to find the courage to accept.

Our first date was in the middle of July. We grabbed some frozen yogurt and then went to sit down by the lake where I grew up. We talked for hours, even welcoming in a homeless man who wanted to take part in our conversation. That night, after all of the laughter and talk of travel and our desires to keep learning, I knew it would be a lasting relationship.

Fast-forward a year later to when he was home on leave from the Navy. He suggested we take a walk around the lake near my house, but I wasn’t feeling it. I suggested we get a blanket and sit down where we had our first date, and, of course, he said yes, thinking how it easy it was that I had just set up my own proposal. We were sitting on the blanket, talking about our relationship and our future, and all of a sudden, he said, “Well, why don’t we just make it official?” He got up on one knee, pulled a little black box out from his pocket, and asked me to marry him. I was so shocked (I was absolutely convinced that if anything were to happen, it wouldn’t be for at least another year) and kept asking him if he was serious. After a few seconds of this, he looked at me and said, “Yeah, babe, I didn’t get this out of a vending machine!”

It didn’t really sink in that we were engaged until the night before our wedding, which was on Jan. 2, 2014.

Thank you, JDate, for introducing me to the man of my dreams!

Tali and Cameron
Norfolk, Virginia