I think every woman has had moments where they can relate to Ashley Iaconetti, the crying girl from "The Bachelor," "Bachelor in Paradise 2," and "Bachelor in Paradise 3." I honestly didn't pay much attention to her when she was one of the twenty-five girls vying for the attention of Chris Soules, partially because I personally found him a bit off-putting and didn't really get his appeal, and partially because I found it exhausting to watch these girls compete for the attention of this one man.

She entered my radar three summers ago when my Mom and sister coerced me into watching "Bachelor in Paradise" with them. "Bachelor in Paradise" is the spin-off where rejected people from "The Bachelor" and "Bachelorette" come in hopes of meeting another reject and falling in love.

I, along with the rest of America, watched Ashley meet and fall hard for an adorable guy named Jared Haibon. The smile on her face, whenever he was around, was infectious and he was so kind, soft-spoken, and gentle. They had a wonderful first date and watching them, her adoration was palpable. He too seemed taken with this vivacious yet extremely emotional girl. It looked like a match made in Heaven.

Fast forward a week and Jared, feeling smothered, accepts a date from another girl. I could feel Ashley's pain as she cried, "How can he not see that we are perfect together?" But Jared didn't see it. Ashley watched in obvious pain as Jared spent time with other women. They left paradise separately.

A year later they came back for season three of "Bachelor in Paradise." We learned from both of them that they had become the best of friends over the past year, spending a lot of time together but never making that jump to romance.

Ashley however, was still in love with Jared. Jared began a relationship on the third season that Ashley was devastated about. It caused so much pain for her and stress for Jared that he ended up leaving Paradise. My heart sank as I watched Ashley watch Jared leave with another woman.

At this point, I just wanted to smack some sense into Jared. It was obvious that they belonged together, everyone could see it except Jared. Finally, just a month ago, Jared and Ashley announced to the world that they are together, dating, and in love.

They are even discussing marriage. Bachelor nation is in a frenzy from the exciting news. Jared finally admitted that it was fear of losing their beautiful friendship that kept him from being with her but he finally realized that their love was worth it.

So why do I care? They are after all two people that I do not know and will never meet. I care because it shows me that there is real love in the world. It demonstrates that dreams and hopes can come true. It challenges my previous notion that men are selfish players and women are untrustworthy backstabbers.

And no, I didn't think that about everyone but, I had seen those qualities enough to know that they were way too common. Seeing these two people end up together and happily gives hope to every person that has had a broken heart, been in an abusive relationship, or been used.

I personally am an unwilling card-carrying member of all three of those clubs. Watching Ashley and Jared provides a renewed sense of optimism to us all.