We're Getting Married!

Sometimes the best stories are the ones that weren't supposed to make it past the rough draft. I met Emily in a creative writing class that neither one of us had to take for our respective majors. We noticed each other in those first few weeks, but then a bout of strep throat and a car accident kept me sidelined at my apartment for a while. Emily was convinced I had dropped the class. I'm glad I didn't. We began sitting next to each other, walking together after class. We liked each other's writing. It was Emily, naturally, who spoke first. I tried to give her my email address so that we could exchange stories, a detail that she loves to point out. She said, "How about my phone number?" We went on our first date at the since-closed Busy Bee Cafe in downtown Raleigh on a rainy September night. By the first week of October, we realized we weren't getting rid of each other. Not long after that, our creative writing professor stopped us in the hallway once class was dismissed and jokingly asked if they were going to have to separate us. I think that just about sums us up better than I ever could. The rest isn't history, exactly. It's still being written. Countless inside jokes, dozens of plants, eighteen states, thousands of cups of coffee (yes, really), several degrees (mostly Emily's), and two beautiful, hot messes for dogs later, and we're still each other's favorite characters. We can't wait to hit Tab on the next page.

There's this overlook about three-quarters of the way up on the North Bubble in Maine's Acadia National Park. It's kind of hidden, but if you get close to the edge, you'll find a perfect view of the north side of the park and Jordan Pond. Emily and I went there for the first time in October of 2019 and felt like the only two people on Earth. I knew, right then, that I was going to ask her to marry me there someday. A year later, I did. She didn't say yes at first -- just kept asking me if I was serious. Hugged me to keep from falling off the mountain. Eventually, she did say yes. And we sat there for a while, feeling like the only two people in the world again.