We're getting married!

Evan and I both attended Christopher Newport University and shared many friends within his fraternity. However, we didn't formally meet until my senior year. Following a quick introduction by a mutual friend at a party, I started a conversation about the convenience of his front shirt pocket and abruptly followed that up by asking him to dance. Although I'm sure his self-assurance on the dance floor was enough to keep me interested, I think it was seeing him playing with Legos a few meetings later that had me falling. We shared our first year together at school and decided to keep the relationship going despite me graduating and Evan remaining at CNU. Over the next three years, we managed to make time for weekend visits, Skype and FaceTime dates, sleepy phone calls, a trip to Disney World, camping at Lake Moomaw, hiking to LeConte lodge, a Phamily trip to Riviera Maya, fraternity formals, walks through our neighborhoods, a few 5Ks, birthdays, weddings, and holiday celebrations, and, most importantly, endless opportunities to grow together and to fall deeper in love.

Evan and I came back to Christopher Newport University to celebrate his fraternity chapter's 10 year anniversary. Earlier in the day, we enjoyed brunch with some of his brothers and strolled around the campus grounds. With the beautiful, 70 degree weather, and sunshine, we extended our walk to Lions Bridge at The Mariner's Museum. At this point, I would like to note that while Evan almost always acquiesced my requests for walks, he rarely, beforehand, had initiated walks. Until this day. Taking in the sunshine and temperate weather, we walked to Lions Bridge and even "bumped" into one of Evan's fraternity brothers, with his camera in hand. I invited him to join us on our walk but, admittedly, thought he came to take pictures of native James River birds. In my defense, there were other photographers taking pictures of the wildlife. Our walk brought us to the water's edge and Evan encouraged me to walk past the "No Trespassing" sign to a small overlook. Before I had enough time to express my concerns about what trouble we could be in, he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. I believe I asked him "Right now?" with happy tears behind my sunglasses before telling him "Yes!". Happily dazed by the proposal and seeing the museum park guard moments after we retreated to "trespassable" territory, we waited until we got back to the car to call our families and share the news. A truly picturesque day for a proposal and I'm almost embarrassed to say how much it caught me by surprise, especially after Evan told me he had shared his plan with his parents and many of our friends. But this day is one of my happiest and I feel so loved and thankful to have been able to share it with Evan, our families, and so many of our close friends.