Anne Blair and CJ met in PT school at Lynchburg College in the summer of 2013 and became quick friends. AB was the social chair of the class and CJ never missed an event. One of CJ's first and favorite memories of AB is of her blasting Daft Punk at a party during the first week of classes, and he had a crush on her ever since. Their friendship continued through PT school and was fueled over their common love for good music, happy hour margaritas, and procrastinating on school work. In the spring of 2020 they were full blown adults with jobs in two different cities, but distance didn't matter. And neither did a worldwide pandemic. AB's frequent travels to Richmond reunited them and friendship grew to something stronger. Every weekend was spent in either AB's Blackstone house or CJ's Fan apartment. They were inseparable. Single dates lasted days at a time. Afternoons were spent on AB's deck and CJ's apartment balcony, evenings spent in dive bars and neighborhood restaurants, and weekdays were spent counting down the days until the next weekend. A wedding was all but inevitable...

When Anne Blair moved to Richmond she and CJ moved into a new apartment in Manchester, right by the James River. They quickly made a habit of hiking the trails by the water and enjoying weekend mornings outside, all the while CJ was scoping out the landscape looking for a spot to pop the question. October 30th was a sunny Saturday morning, although all week it had called for rain. Secret celebratory dinner reservations had already been made and travel plans were set for both sides of the family, so rain or shine, a proposal was bound to happen. The weather always seemed to work out in their favor and this day was no exception. As the sun shone and AB and CJ crossed the "T-pot" bridge over the James River, a snack break was called for but no ordinary snack was brought from CJ's backpack. He got on one knee and asked Anne Blair to marry him and spend every single solitary day with him for the rest of their lives. Her answer was a resounding, Yes!