We first met at the airport on May 11, 2018 (Atkinson's birthday) on the way to a study abroad trip in South Africa. We had a blast as we traveled around Cape Town for two weeks with a group of our peers learning and experiencing a beautiful country. Fast forward 2 years, our friends decided that we would get along well and encouraged Jonathan to reach out to Atkinson. We went to Panera to catch up as friends (which Atkinson calls our "Frunch" - friend lunch) and then romantically went to the registrar to get our class schedules situated - so fun right?! We spent some time together at school before Covid sent students home for the remainder of the semester. This began the majority of our long-distance relationship where we spent lots of time outdoors - walking and talking around various parks and paths in VA. We shared stories, laughed at Atkinson's hilarious jokes, and shared our love of God's creation. We dated despite the world being closed and tried to be together to create memories as often as we could! The next year, Atkinson moved to North Carolina for graduate school to begin a Physical Therapy program at ECU and Jonathan began his first year teaching high school math in Newport News. We are eagerly awaiting the the time where we can be together in Greenville, NC and start our next chapter! :)

About a week before, Jonathan began finalizing the details of the proposal. He secretly recruited family members and friends as a ploy to get Atkinson to a walking trail in a nearby park on a crisp, cool December day. Then it was the day...December 19th. We went to church in the morning, Christmas shopped in the afternoon through a hailstorm (that's when Jonathan began to panic a little) until our plans to meet friends at the park. We made it to the park on time while our friends were miraculously "not able to make it". But just as we made it there, the skies began to clear up and we began a walk around the park. Ahhhh...just the way Jonathan had planned it ;) We stopped at a gazebo that we had come to watch the sunset many times before that looked over the reservoir. Stunning and thoughtful, I know! As we walked up, Atkinson said "We can go look out over the water but I don't really want to sit down on the wet benches." and Jonathan cleverly replied "Thats okay, you don't need to sit down for this!" He got down on one knee and discretely grabbed the ring out of his raincoat pocket for the perfect surprise! Jonathan popped the question and without missing a beat, Atkinson said "Yes!" We enjoyed our moment together, looking at the beautiful sparkling diamond, and smiling until our cheeks hurt!