Following mutual Instagram accounts brought us into each others orbit. We still don't know how, since 1,200 miles and half the U.S. separated us. Nevertheless, this was enough of a catalyst for Anthony to send a sneaky but effective private message to my inbox. Sparks inevitably flew; the rest, they say, is history. We spent most of the year engaged in increasingly more passionate conversation, wherein our long-distance conversations nearly demanded something more.

The flight booked, it was time to put our online relationship to the ultimate test. Having spent most of the year virtually getting to know one another made us wonder, so we dared to abandon our past anxieties and ask "what if"...and on Thanksgiving we finally got the answers we needed. Our first encounter confirmed what we had guessed from our earliest interactions. For once, real life was better than what it seemed on the internet. Our relationship began with a Thanksgiving meal we cooked ourselves merely 24 hours after we first met.

Rented a property in SC to start a new life together. New jobs, new cars, new pets. We had hoped moving to a rural area meant living life in the slow lane - but we're still learning how to do that, and life has only continued to speed up ever since.

Anthony says hey, let's buy a house. So he does. Like an absolute loon he goes on an impromptu (and very expensive) shopping trip during the most overworked time of year at his job, the annual shutdown. A few weeks later, he finds the perfect place. So began a year of intense renovation projects and a whole lot of hard lessons.

The original plan for the Jackson family was to reunite in Colorado where prior family reunions had been held, before the Jackson migration to England. Alas, stagnant Visa applications on the other side of the pond prevented them from leaving. What else could be done but to meet them there? Somehow 9 family members all gathered at the Jackson home in Manchester for the first time (ever, for some, and in nearly a decade for the rest).

Our dear friends Grace and Jay (who were the reason we moved to South Carolina in the first place) decided to host a surprise birthday party for Carys for her 32nd. Knowing only when and where to show up, we arrived to find an elaborate celebration on their property. The degree of whimsy and detail to the decorations and activities had us marvel, and Anthony's infamous spontaneity begged that famous question we knew so well: what if? He told the partygoers to pull out their phones for a special surprise, and unbeknownst to Carys until the moment he knelt, out came the ring he'd purchased right after the family reunion. Queue big happy tears and excitement!