Damien and Alise were one year apart in high school at Beaver Local. They’d pass each other every day in the hallway and smile at each other, but it was months before they actually talked to each other. They went on a couple dates and went their separate ways. Damien graduated and went off to college, but he decided to enlist in the United States Marine Corps a few months later. After boot camp, Damien visited home. They ran into each other at a party being hosted by a mutual friend and they were inseparable all night. Damien left to go back to North Carolina for the military shortly after. Three years later, they reconnected and fell in love. They have spent so much time traveling to one another over the past year just to see each other as much as possible.

Alise insisted on seeing the sunset on the beach as much as possible. Damien drove her down to Topsail Beach at least 3 times, which was almost an hour drive each way. On Friday, they went to Topsail and had to pay online for parking on the beach. Damien left this task to Alise, they ended up paying a parking ticket. Alise collected so many shells at the beach that both of Damien’s pockets were full of them by time they left. He insisted on carrying every shell she picked up. The next day, they went to dinner and then back to the beach. Alise wanted to go to the peninsula to watch the sunset — little did she realize, the peninsula was barely facing the sunset, but they took some pretty pictures.

Damien surprised Alise with a trip to Cedar Point for her 21st birthday. For their first rollercoaster, they agreed to start off small. Damien chose one that caught his eye and promised it would be an easy one. Alise couldn’t see the coaster so she trusted him. They waited in line and got to the front. All you could see was this HUGE drop. Damien said “we’re jumping right in”. Then, Damien convinced Alise to ride the Power Tower, which slowly raises you 240ft in the air then drops you at 50mph. Damien made fun of Alise’s reaction to this ride for the remainder of the trip.