We're getting married!

After several months of planning, my sister Gillian had finalized her plans to move to Nashville, TN - a city we both absolutely loved visiting whenever we could. So in September 2016, we packed up her Jeep with clothes and electronics, and started to make the drive to Nashville over the course of two days with an overnight stop at my brother's house just outside of Washington, DC. On October 1st, after a legitimately long day and night, we arrived in Hermitage, TN where Gillian picked up her keys. We spent the next week (give or take a few days) exploring Nashville, setting up the apartment, and sampling some mighty fine alcohol. Flash forward to the end of that adventure, and I am at the Nashville airport at an ungodly hour of the morning. I make my way to my Southwest terminal feeling my *absolute best and most attractive*. I realize that despite checking in for my flight exactly 24 hours in advance, I am STILL not in the Boarding Group A. Mystified by this fact, I turn to the person standing in line to the right of me to express my confidence that Boarding Group A simply does not exist. Enter Blake wearing headphones that are probably saying "leave me alone" but Emily has never really understood that particular sentiment. He takes the headphones off, and we proceed to have a pretty brief conversation about flying and my time in Nashville. Here is where Blake made his mistake - as we were boarding the plane, he made the BRAVE decision to ask to sit next to me (remember - open seating, sit wherever you'd like). I, of course, say yes. We spend the entire flight talking about our jobs, our friends, and our lives in general. At the end of the flight, I helped navigate Blake through the joys of Boston Logan Airport so he can find his buddy (also a Blake) who was picking him up. We hugged goodbye, I told him to enjoy his time in Boston, and we exchanged zero contact information. About 2 days later I had a message request on instagram, and the rest is history...

We were visiting Massachusetts to see Emily’s mom (the one, the only - Babs) for the first time in several months due to COVID-19. Blake had purchased the ring weeks before, and come to find out, had showed it to like half of middle Tennessee before flying it to Boston for that trip. About two days into our trip, we decided to go to The Boardwalk in Sandwich on Cape Cod, where Emily grew up, to go to the beach and relax. Before heading that way, we stopped at Babs’ house to help her with something. Blake showed Babs the ring and got her blessing - like there would ever be a doubt! We make our way to Sanwich, and after a very rocky (literally) walk up the beach, Blake got down on one knee and proposed.