the mountain man fell in love with the city girl

Sidney and Drew became college sweethearts at Western Carolina University after being introduced by a mutual friend, at a typical college gathering. Sidney thought that Drew looked like her dream man, a mountain man from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", and Drew looked into Sidney's big blue eyes and fell hard. Needless to say, Drew and Sidney hit it off, chatting and competing in college "reindeer" games, winning a couple of rounds and continuing to flirt till the night ended. Sidney and Drew furthered their expanding attraction, working out at the gym, hanging out with their friends, and helping one another with math homework since Sidney was not good at math. On September 5th, Sidney’s birthday, Sidney asked Drew to come hiking with her, her grandparents and a few college friends from church. While hiking, Drew and Sidney began to realize they had a lot in common and their feelings for one another had grown. Sidney, not wanting to rush into anything, decided they should remain friends for the time being. A few months passed as their friendship blossomed into a relationship on December 1st, 2016, when Drew presented Sidney with a note asking her to be his girlfriend. Inevitably, she said, "Yes." Sidney and Drew soon became inseparable, other than when they were 4 hours apart during breaks and summers. Fast forward to their one-year anniversary (December 1st, 2017) when Drew surprised Sidney with a promise ring on top of Water Rock Knob. Eight months soon passed before once again Drew surprised her.

On August 11th, 2018, Drew, Hannah (Drew's sister) and I, drove to DuPont Forest to take "senior pictures" of Drew, as his up-coming graduation would be held in May of 2019. I thought it was odd to be taking senior pictures so soon, but went with the flow of the day, even though I had my suspicions. As the August sun beat down on us around 6 pm, we made our trek through the woods of DuPont Forest. Along the path, we came to a bridge that overlooked one of the waterfalls in the state forest, took a few pictures, and continued on our way. Walking half a mile on a dirt/gravel path toward the entrance to one of the ponds, we stopped, Drew changed shirts, and we took a couple more photos before trekking our way towards the path to the pond. Right at the entrance for the pond access, lined with trees, Hannah had Drew stop and take a few more photos. Afterwards, we walked down the tree lined path that opened up to a gorgeous view of the pond. Drew walked toward a picnic shelter as I followed, looking at the ground, trying not to trip over the tree roots on the ground. I heard Hannah say, "I think someone was out here." Not understanding what she meant and still concentrating on not sprawling onto the uneven path, I looked up and noticed on the dock strings of lights, candles, leading to a glass covered rose propped in the middle of the dock. Drew placed his back-pack on one of the picnic tables, took my hand, and lead me to the end of the dock. While walking down the dock with my hand in Drew’s, I noticed Drew's hand was shaking. In complete shock and disbelief of what was going on, Drew and I approached the end of the dock.

We were surrounded by Mason jars with candles inside of them, white Christmas lights wrapped around the wooden poles that provided a covered dock, while in the middle, at the very end of the dock sat a glass covered rose, a magical scene, based off of my favorite Disney Princess movie Beauty and the Beast. Drew, still shaking, got down on one knee. Still befuddled, I watched him take my hand. Through shaken, but quite audible words, Drew revealed a gorgeous ring as he asked me to marry him and become his wife. Giddy, overwhelmed, flushed with excitement and total amazement, I exclaimed, "Yes!" Drew placed the ring on my finger as we embraced, kissed, laughed and embraced again. Mary and Arnold, co-conspirators in the set up, rushed out from some bushes and Hannah, who had been standing on the side lines, all applauded, filled with excitement.