If you have made your way to this page, that means that you want to hear the story of how Davis and Emily came to be ,and oh boy is that my favorite story to tell!! Why is this my favorite story? Well… I might have played a tiny role in the kickstart of their relationship. And by tiny, I mean I was completely invested and I’m considering switching careers and becoming a full time matchmaker. Anyways, that’s not what you’re here to read, so let’s get to the good stuff.
Let’s go all the way back to March of 2022. One of my high school best friends, Davis Frey came to college station, where I lived with my new college best friend, Emily Feller. Technically, Emily and Davis had met prior to this at the infamous A&M/Arkansas Midnight Yell, but I wasn’t there to witness that introduction… so this weekend in March was where it all began for me.
Fast forward to June 26th of 2022. Emily was in town for Hayden and Julianna’s engagement party and was headed back home to Colorado. A little fact about me; I don’t like making trips by myself, so I decided to invite someone to come with me to drop Emily off. Who did I invite… Davis Frey! That car ride had the potential to be very awkward (might I remind you Emily and Davis had only met twice at this point) but it was anything but awkward. Come to find out the two of them had lots in common like hiking, traveling, music and young life... Eek this was an exciting realization for me! A lot more conversation was had on the way to the airport, including the fact that Emily is not a hugger. So, what did I jokingly dare Davis do when we got to the airport?! You guessed it, give her a hug. Was it a side hug and slightly awkward, very much so. But, did I “sneak” a picture? Of course!
Two months later everyone was back together for a lake trip in August! After this trip is when all the “jokes” (not really jokes, just had to keep it light hearted so we didn’t freak them out) began. From August to December, Julianna, Gracie and I did the occasional name dropping, joking and “accidental” texting one of them a photo of the other person. I know, I know, not sly at all. But what can I say, they are both so amazing and we wanted to make sure they each recognized that.
After graduation, Emily and I moved to Plano, which is so helpful because guess who had moved back to McKinney for the summer… DAVIS! At this point, I was convinced Emily and Davis would be so great together, so I was making plans left and right in hopes that maybe they would also realize this. One of these hangouts was our annual pool basketball at Davis’ house. Both Emily and Davis are extremely competitive, so putting them against each other in pool basketball was perfect! On a personal note, this was probably the worst game of basketball I had ever played, because I was so distracted by the sparks flying between the two of them. ( I know they are rolling their eyes reading that, but it’s true). If you asked me if there was one moment I knew Emily and Davis were going to date, this! Was! It!
May 25th was a big day not only for the Ardilas, but because this was the day Emily said “I wouldn’t be opposed to getting to know him better” and the night that Davis admitted to me he wanted to ask her out!! Pinch me, this is really happening people!
On May 26th they went on their first date and to say it went well would be an understatement. I mean after all they went to get ice cream and came back not one, not two, but SIX hours later. I would say that’s a pretty good sign!
After their third date, Davis was pretty confident he wanted Emily to be his girlfriend. So he came over to our not so nice little apartment on June 14th with some beautiful flowers, cooked salmon and took an extremely long time to ask her. I mean come on Davis… her best friend over here is waiting for a post-date debrief. But, sometime after midnight he asked her to be his girlfriend and they were officially dating June 15th!
The first three months of Emily and Davis’ relationship were spent spending pretty much every moment together before Davis had to go back to school at Arkansas. Once Davis went back to school, countless FaceTimes and road trips back and forth were made. But, the sweetest thing is that they would meet halfway and spend the day in McAlester Oklahoma. Why does this tiny little detail matter? Well, on one of these little McAlister trips (December 6th to be specific) three not so little words were exchanged for the first time… aww that’s right they are in love!!!
Davis graduated from Arkansas and moved back and it was only a matter of time before he popped the question. On the Fourth of July Davis told me that he was going to ask Emily to marry him in September!!! This was such an exciting and nerve racking time because now I had been tasked with keeping this secret from my very best friend that I live with for the next two months. Eventually, September came and Davis had planned the sweetest trip to Colorado where they went on a hike and he asked Emily to marry him, and of course we all know she said yes!!
In all seriousness, being able to watch my best friends fall in love with one another in the most God-honoring way, has been nothing but proof of the Lord's faithfulness! As much as I wish I could take credit for this relationship, this is nothing but God’s perfect love and plan for Emily and Davis. The way they love each other and make the other so happy, is everything a best friend could pray for. Now… let’s go have the biggest celebration for them on July 5th!