We met the old fashioned way — online. It all started with me, Rachel, sending a gif of Rhianna waving, and Josh followed up with a gif of Obi Wan Kenobi. The rest is history. I had actually seen Josh online through mutual friends and had thought he was cute. Turns out, I was manifesting. We had our first date on April 20th, 2019 at 622 North in Blacksburg. We ate, we drank, we laughed. We walked downtown and stopped for drinks at Hokie House. Josh kindly asked if I wanted a drink, but me being nervous, I said I’d have whatever he was having. He brought me my first g & t, and I hated it (but tried to pretend I didn’t). He walked me back to my car, snuck a little kiss, and we went our separate ways. Now the rest is history.

Proposing is something I had in mind for a little while at this point, but the trigger was finally pulled for getting a ring on July 1st of 2021. Our friends Emilie and Tayler were great help in looking through designs and helping me make the final decision on a ring that Rach would love. October 24th of 2021 was the actual day of the proposal, and I’m sure Rach would have wanted it much earlier if she knew how long I was holding on to the ring! I had tossed different scenarios in my head trying to find a storybook perfect proposal, but I eventually came to the conclusion that the true storybook ending will come regardless of how the pages are written, as long as I have Rach by my side for the rest of it. Rach had planned to take pictures that day with our friend Amy, and I knew it was the time for the proposal to happen. We had set up for the event to happen for the last set of pictures, and following the proposal we would celebrate with a group of loved ones. The day was bright and shining, much like the amazing woman who would say yes on that day and bring me more happiness than I thought possible. With help once again from the two mentioned before, along with Amy, the plan was set. When the grand event happened I stumbled on my words (quite) a bit, but the end goal was reached and I knew our lives would be forever entangled and a grand adventure would await us.