Our Adventure Begins

While we may have shared a few classes and seen each other in the hallways of Woodstock Academy, Dan and I can barely say we met in high school. We then "re"met while teaching at Marianapolis Preparatory School. After spending time together at some colleague game nights and parties, he asked me if I liked sushi and wanted to grab dinner sometime. I said yes and he picked me up on a Friday. The night was super relaxed and we enjoyed rehashing memories from yesteryear at WA. I didn't know I was on a date until we laughed about it later over a beer I invited him out for as a follow up to that dinner! It didn't take much convincing on either end that we should make it official about a month after that sushi "date" on 11/28/14.

This story is best told in person (in my opinion): With our busy schedules, Dan and I needed an escape, so we planned a weekend getaway to a tiny house in the middle of the Nantahala National Forest in Andrews, NC. Little did we know, we'd find out the night before we set off on this trip that Dan was accepted to Chiropractic school (!!), so we went out for drinks to celebrate. On Friday, I wanted a lazy start to the day, so I headed off to the grocery store to get some bacon for the pancakes Dan was making and as a surprise to keep the celebration going, I picked up some mimosa fixings too! When we had finished eating, Dan was ready to hit the road...I, on the other hand, then made Dan clean the entire apartment with me (I'm talking change the sheets, clean the bathroom, vacuum, the whole nine yards). Finally, we packed up the car and Willow and made the 2 hour drive. After several failed attempts to get me to go for a hike, with me suggesting literally anything else: "No Dan, let's get the cabin set for the weekend" "Why don't we go grocery shop first?" "How about we check out this brewery that was once a jail?!" a very exasperated Dan popped the question fireside that night while we made s'mores leading with "I was going to wait until we were at a vista on a hike today but..."