We're getting married!

We matched on a dating app called Bumble ! We first bonded over our shared love of Dr. Pepper and our mutual interest in snakes (Cheyenne had a ball python at the time and Michael's cousin used to have a corn snake). We went on our first date at the Tap Tea Bar in Wilmington off of Racine drive, the original location. It was... a little awkward to say the least. Both of us were a little nervous and a little awkward since we had only communicated through messages. After a successful introduction though, we decided to keep the date going by following our boba with ice cream from the Coldstone in Mayfaire. We connected even more in the car on the way to and from Coldstone, enough that we decided to keep in contact for a second date!

For our second (and fourth) date, we decided to tour eachother's hometowns! Mine (Cheyenne) was first and I decided to show Michael 3 important places to me: My favorite restaurant, my workplace, and my favorite secret hangout spot. We started at my favorite restaurant at the time: Wing & Fish Co. in Shallotte. After eating wings and sharing laughs, we headed to my workplace at the time to get milkshakes for dessert. After introducing Michael to my coworkers, we decided to hop in my car to go to my favorite hangout spot in Holden Beach...except my car wouldn't start. Instead of making the obvious choice (taking Michael's car), we decided to jump-start mine and take it anyway. We made it to the hangout spot with no issues and watched the sunset together. When we went to leave, however, my car wouldn't start... again. So I called my mom who lived about 5 minutes away to get her to help me get my car started so I could at least take Michael back to his own car. If you knew my mom, you'd understand when I say it took her an hour longer than it should've. While we waited on her, we watched Corpse Bride on my phone. Once we were back on the road to Shallotte, I noticed that my lights were dim in my dashboard as well as my headlights. Yeah, well that was because my battery was messed up and when we were less than a minute from Michael's car, my car shut off halfway through a right turn and I had to steer us to the side of the road before we lost momentum. We ended up walking the rest of the way back to Michael's car and parting ways. I was so embarrassed and sure that this was probably the worst date Michael had ever been on that I preemptively sent him a text apologizing and telling him that I understood if he didn't want to see me again. He, of course, understood that life happens and there was no way a little car trouble would keep us from seeing each other again.

Being the last time we saw each other before the pandemic lockdowns, the third date holds some very special memories for us. Hungry and excited to meet up after the previous date, we met at Carolina Ale House in Wilmington. Cheyenne decided to surprise me with two frozen mini key lime pies (my favorite), because it was Pi day. After sharing a yummy meal, we decided to go get some desserts (surprisingly enough, not pie). We went to Krispy Kreme because the hot sign was on and got a few glazed donuts, which we decided to enjoy on a walk together at Long Leaf Park. During this romantic escapade, I managed (as always) to do something foolish: while finishing my last donut, I felt full and decided to feed the last half of my donut to the wildlife. I attempted to throw it into the wilderness, only to release it too late, accidentally hitting an old war memorial. After exchanging some surprised faces and laughs, we left the park and went on to drive around town, getting to know each other a little bit better, laughing together over our disastrous second date, and sharing stories about our lives. At the end of the night, neither of us knowing this would be our last date for months, we both felt that this could be the beginning of something special.

This date deserves a little context…After not seeing each other for months and briefly falling out of touch, I decided to text Cheyenne, hoping that maybe I’d still have a chance with her, and within minutes she had responded. Taking this as a good sign, I asked her on a date, and later that week, we met up in Wilmington. Not knowing Cheyenne doesn’t like Americanized Mexican food (and her being too shy to say so) I invited her to Plaza Mariachi. Very quickly on this date, we began to realize we had barely missed a beat in the almost six months we hadn’t seen each other. This time, I decided to show Cheyenne around Wilmington and all the places I had grown up around. She saw my old schools, the soccer stadium I played at, my home, and my favorite hangout spots. After a very long evening of exploring Wilmington and catching up, we decided that we definitely wanted to keep seeing each other. Even though we could’ve never guessed marriage was in the cards, looking back this was one of the most pivotal nights in our lives.