Even though we spent most of our lives growing up 2 miles from one another, we didn't meet until August of 1992. We had a lot of common interests and really started off as very good friends who happened to spend just about every single day and evening together. Then in 1995, all of our other friends started getting married. We must have attended 50 showers, bachelor/bachelorette parties, and weddings in an 18-month period. We also built up quite a collection of bridal bouquets and garter belts that seemed to fly our way a lot. Then all the weddings stopped and everybody started having babies. Most people by this time thought we'd never get married.

Then on Friday the 13th, 1998, much to my surprise, Matthew proposed to me on top of the Empire State Building in New York around 11:55pm. He presented with me a beautiful diamond ring which belonged to his great-grandmother (Mattie Clay). After I so very happily accepted, we went to Little Italy to celebrate at a little place called Joey Paisaino's. The first thing Matthew did when we got to Joey's was to call Brittany, who was spending the night with Doris and Jordon. Funny thing, but it seemed by morning that the whole world knew!

Matthew and I both work at the State University of West Georgia. He works in the College of Education as the Technology Director, and I work in Special Programs as the Director of Distance Education. Matthew spends a lot of his free time playing golf and maintaining his apartments. Much of my time is spent studying or taking my 12-year-old daughter, Brittany, and her friends from here to there and everywhere. Together, Matthew and I like to relax, visit our families, go out to eat alone or with our friends, and travel.

Matthew's in-town family includes his mom, Gwyn Brown Chesnut and his brother, Carter Clay. About two or three times a year, we try to make a trip to Augusta (actually Lincolnton) to visit Matthew's Dad, Neal Clay, and his wife, Pat. In addition to my wonderful daughter, my immediate family includes my grandparents, Bat and Loyce Talley, with whom I grew up. My mother, Diane Talley Davis, lives with her husband, Tony in Ft. Lauderdale. Often Matthew and I marvel at the many similarities of our families . . . (to be continued)