We're Getting Married

We met while attending undergrad at Winthrop University. We both were on the cross-country and track teams, so we quickly fell into the same friend group; however, at the time I (Jessie) was in another relationship. This allowed us to spend two years developing a strong friendship before I ended my previous relationship. We soon started to date casually before realizing we wanted to get serious following our college graduation. Although it seemed like everything was finally falling into place, we had another obstacle ahead - graduate school. We had first planned to both attend the University of South Carolina, but then Blake was given the amazing opportunity to attend Cornell, forcing us to spend two years long distance. Despite the challenges the distance brought, it allowed us to really learn how to communicate on a deep level and offered many opportunities for visits and Skype dates. Finally, two years were over, and once again graduation upped the seriousness of our relationship - as Blake decided to pop the question!

Since I had successfully defended my thesis proposal early in May, we were able to spend the week leading up to Blake's graduation enjoying Ithaca in the spring. We were going to breweries and wineries and walking hand-in-hand along the flower-lined streets; it was truly a romantic time! Then on May 22nd, we woke up early to go hiking at Watkins Glen State Park. We went on a more circuitous route, allowing us to avoid the crowds of people who visit the waterfalls at the park. Alone at the top of a hill, while I was struggling to catch my breath, I turned around to see Blake on his knee, holding a beautiful ring. I was emphatically saying yes before the words were even out of his mouth, but I heard them...the love of my life was asking me to be his wife. That night we celebrated our engagement at a fancy restaurant on the water and raised our glasses to forever.