We're getting married!

Daris and I first met when he was a nurse and I was a speech pathologist in the surgical trauma ICU at Palmetto Health Richland hospital in Columbia, SC. We both remember our first real conversation in patient room 523. I was captivated by the cute nurse with the nice smile and tried to set him up with a friend...thank goodness that he wasn't interested! We remained friends for several years before he asked me out on our first date.

Apparently everyone knew this moment was coming except me! It was Day 2 of our trip to Bali. I knew that our itinerary that day included a hike into the famous Tegalalang Rice Terraces. That morning I woke up and put on my hiking clothes because I had heard it was a bit of an uphill climb into the terraces. I will never forget the girls in the group coming in my room that morning and telling me that the rice terraces were extremely “Instagrammable” and that I should wear cute clothes. This seems so obvious now, but it made total sense in the moment. We were supposed to head to the rice fields first thing that day, but due to an unexpected itinerary change by our driver, they ended up being our last stop. We had a late lunch and hiked up single file into the terraces. I was in the front of the line and Daris was in the back so I had absolutely no clue that he had a ring in his fanny pack and was totally freaking out. When we got to the top, our friend Rachel asked me to turn around to face her so she could get a photo of me and the fields. That was when Daris came up beside me and I saw 10 people get out their phones. Daris turned me towards him and...I blacked out 😂. I’m sure he said something so sweet and dropped to one knee, but I was in shock! Afterwards, after the tears and shock wore off a little, we all had a toast at the top of the rice terraces with lots of “Bingtang,” the local beer in Bali! It was truly a dream come true.