On Sunday evening, July 02, 2023, Jacob and I met at Salmeri's in Fortmill, SC for an Italian dinner. There was a part of me that wasnt sure I should go. I was very nervous to go but also excited. I got there a few minutes early and waiting in my car... trying to see if he would go in before me BUT at about 5 minutes before our reservation (at 5:30) I went in.. so I could sit facing the door ;). Well right on time in walks Jacob and I knew he was going to be my person. After dinner.. where I talked wayy to much we went to go get icecream at Brusters right down the street. He offered to drive us since it was close by and a small parking lot. After icecream we came back to the parking lot where my car was and sat for...hours.. talking and being silly. He called me a weirdo probably 732 times (hes not wrong). After sitting in the parking lot talking for hours we decided it was time to go home since he had to be up for work at 0500. So we hugged and said our byes and went on. I texted my roommate at 0052 saying "it went soooo good". and the rest is history. We spent the next week hanging out every day. Date 2: 07/03/2023 I met gunny and We sat while fishing for hours. Date 3: 07/04/2023 He called out of work and met literally all of my friends from the South and asked me to be his girlfriend.

My good friend Lauren Hobbs was getting married in Tennessee and invited Jacob to join me, despite us only being together about a month by the time the wedding rolled around! I was very glad when he was able to get the time off of work and come with me, but we decided it would be fun to extend the trip by a night and spend some one on one time together. He booked us a beautiful Airbnb with the most amazing view. We had the best time and learned so much about each other that weekend. By the end of the weekend we both knew this was forever.