Chance and I met in 8th grade through South Aiken swimming when I moved to Aiken from Greenville, South Carolina and he changed from a private christian school to public middle school. We became fast friends through swimming and school but nothing more. Over the years, we saw each other in several relationships through out high school. Chance crushed on me during 11th grade, but nothing came of it. Around early December 2013 of our senior year, I had been about 2 months single after a brief relationship and considering dating again. The old saying popped into my head that you always end up with the guy you least expected but never gave a chance. So, we shocked a few people when Chance and I started going to shags and watching movies together. On January 9th, we made it official when he snuck the "will you be my girlfriend" note into a paper I was proofreading after I stepped away from my computer. -LS

We finished high school in the Spring of 2014, both graduating with honors, going to prom together and putting our senior handprints side by side. Our first year of college was together, him at TriCounty for pharmacology through the bridge program and me with a full ride to Clemson, studying pre-vet. After our first year, Chance decided USC Aiken's Accounting program back home was a better fit for him, and I continued at Clemson. That started what we didn't know would be 7 years of long distance dating. What's funny about distance is that it allows you both to work on your communication, continue to grow individually and together, and face the challenges of meeting other people. We spent every second of summers and holidays together, many weekends, were truly inseparable when we visited each other. I graduated Clemson in Spring of 2018 and started at Mississippi State a few weeks later, he graduated USC Aiken December 2018 and shortly started at USC Columbia for his Masters in Accounting. We discussed around our second year dating that I wanted to wait on marriage until after vet school. I changed a lot during veterinary school, and Chance graduated with his Masters in the Spring of 2020. We discussed him coming to live with me in Mississippi when he graduated amid my second year of vet school, but decided that him placing his roots in Aiken was the better option long-term. So, Chance started working at SME. Amid my third year of vet school, I was still a little shy of marriage, but I came to the realization that no matter who I was with or where I was, it was always him. Thus, our next journey began. -LS

I had a trip to Orlando, FL booked ever since I saw my 3rd year clinic schedule (so Jan/Feb 2020). I always told Chance whether he came or Julie, I was going so that I could attend the Veterinary Medical Expo (VMX). It had just become free to veterinary students, and I'd been going to veterinary conferences in Orlando at this time for the last two years. Of course, all this planning was all pre-COVID. Time went by, and Chance cleared the trip with his work, which proved a little difficult since the trip was right at the start of tax season. It became clear that VMX was probably going to be affected by COVID since it had to be planned so far in advance, so we altered our plans to go to all four Disney World parks and both Universal parks. Thankfully, COVID was dying down a lot in January. We hired a trip planner (which truly broke my little planning heart), and got everything worked out. Spent WAY too much money on the trip in my opinion, and way too little in Chance's. I'd been suspicious that Chance would propose on this trip for a few reasons: It was one of the last times we'd see each other until after his tax season, I knew we'd been talking about engagement a lot, and because he was putting a lot of money into the trip. However, after a day went by, I was completely thrown off. He kept asking ring questions or something like that, I may have snapped and gotten angry at his procrastination, which he found hilarious, for all of two seconds before I was distracted by a ride or activity and forgot all about it. -LS

Throughout the day, Chance appeared to get more and more anxious as we took pictures and explored the Magic Kingdom Park. Finally, we were taking pictures and he dropped to his knee and said "I couldn't have asked for a better 7 years, and I couldn't imagine another day without you". I definitely grabbed the ring in awe amid pictures, hence between that and me looking utterly stupid, you won't see many engagement pictures. He surprised me with "He asked" and "She said yes" masks while we told my family. Disney gave us engagement pins that helped us score some free desert and the front seat on some rides. He surprised me with a small notebook about his ring shopping journey and how he took my family and grandparents to dinner to ask for their blessing, which I stressed was important to me. He told me how many times I almost found the ring, and how I actually saw pictures of it on his phone but never realized. Later he told me he almost got a flight to be on my doorstep the day of our 7th anniversary, which really would have shocked me. Overall, it was an amazing trip. -LS