TIME TO CELEBRATE

Annalies and Cora met at William Peace University at the beginning of 2020 where Annalies was the assistant soccer coach and Cora was the head athletic trainer. A brief hallway hello was shared and shortly after the school was shut down due to COVID-19. (Though Cora firmly remembers that she went to go introduce herself to Annalies during an early soccer practice where Annalies turned to look at Cora and then swiftly walked away…ouch). The couple’s paths didn’t cross again until after the COVID shut down, when the new soccer season started in fall of 2020. This interaction mainly consisted of watching athletes take COVID tests while firmly reminding their athletes that masks should not be pulled down to sneeze and that masks are not shareable items. Annalies and Cora didn’t see each other much out of season but grew their friendship messaging back and forth on Instagram. Ah, the beauties of social media! As the pair grew closer during the season, Cora finally invited Annalies to join her at a men’s soccer game and get dinner afterwards. Annalies was avoiding the possibility of this being a ‘date’, so what did she do? She brought her sister, Sarah Grace. They spent the evening chatting; Sarah Grace and Cora bonded over their childhood love of Harry Potter and Annalies and Cora over their love of Bluegrass music. At the end of the night, Sarah Grace gave Cora Annalies’s number because, even though Annalies thought of Cora as a friend, Sarah Grace knew Cora liked Annalies. From that point on, the pair fostered a close friendship. Annalies still tried to convince herself that there weren’t romantic feelings involved. It wasn’t until Annalies got into a car crash (all parties were fine, but secretly they appreciate ‘the slow to brake’ driver that hit her) that the couple accepted that true feelings were there. The next months were a whirlwind of moving Annalies’ Mom into her new home (turns out Cora is not only a great partner but a great packer too), sharing Cora’s apartment in Raleigh and then finally moving to their first little home in Carrboro, NC. That apartment in downtown Carrboro can be credited for much of their growth and love of the Chatham County area. Over the next few years the couple would both quit their careers in college athletics to take jobs in clinical research, work together during youth soccer tournaments, move to the Lystra home, help redo the basement apartment, build and maintain a large garden, and travel. They’ve been to Alaska, up and down the east coast, out to Oklahoma and most notably, Newfoundland. A week before their big Newfoundland trip, Cora proposed to Annalies in their home garden, next to the broccoli, with a pine needle basket that she hand wove that morning. While Annalies was completely caught off guard, as she thought it was going to happen in Newfoundland, their families put together a wonderful surprise engagement party after Annalies said yes. The Newfoundland trip became the engagement celebration trip where the couple went to see the eclipse, however the Newfoundland weather had other plans. As they like to tell the story, if they had done just 10 more minutes of research, they would have seen that even in the path of totality, Newfoundland doesn’t really get any sunshine until June. As the clouds rolled in and the light seemed to fade, the couple bursted out in laughter, because one thing about Annalies and Cora is that they will make an adventure and a good time out of anything. Just ask their loved ones! Through it all, the couple have created funny memories, taken beautiful pictures, made many jokes only they will get, care for two big goofy dogs and most importantly formed the deep love they share today. — We choose each other, today and tomorrow and all the days to come. We cannot wait to share this day with you and to keep these memories with us as we embark on this journey together.