We're getting married!

Growing up in the same small town means even if you don't really know each other, you know of each other. So when I stumbled upon Justin's Instagram account and followed him (I admit it's because I'm nosy and wondered what he was up to those days), he slid in my DMs like we were old friends just catching up. It didn't take long for us to exchange numbers. Fun fact -- Justin and I share almost the EXACT same phone number. The only difference is the last two are inverted (his is 38 and mine 83). Only a little weird. Anyway, we kept up and spoke every day for the next 3 months -- he was living in Indianapolis at the time, and I was in midtown Atlanta. We developed a friendship over those months of texts and phone calls, but we had never actually hung out in person! Then finally, the Monday of Thanksgiving week 2017, Justin started the long drive home to Moultrie and made a pit stop in Atlanta to see me and take me on our first official date. We saw each other every day during that Thanksgiving break, and now here we are!

In the early summer of 2018, my best friend Kyle asked if me, him, his wife Maggie, and my Maggie should go to an Indy car race out in California. At that moment I knew that was my perfect opportunity to propose to Maggie at the spot I had picked out years ago at the Golden Gate Bridge. Over the next month or so Kyle and I planned this trip without Maggie knowing, and we were set to leave on September 13. We had planned to spend the first day touring San Francisco and the second day in Napa wine country. I knew that I wanted to propose the first day in San Francisco in this spot that I had picked out years ago. The day of the proposal, we enjoyed frolicking around the city and getting the sights and sounds of San Francisco, as well as the marine layer that usually burns off by noon. That day it stuck around for way longer than anticipated, giving me a bit of anxiety for the proposal. After we toured San Francisco, we headed back across the bridge to the spot that I had picked out. Just before we left the city, the marine layer burned off and the sun came out. So the spot was on a clif on the other side of the bridge. To get to the spot that I had in mind, we had to break a few rules and cross a fence that kept you from going below the lookout point. So after convincing Maggie to break the rules and follow me down to the spot I had in mind for years, I asked her if she was ready to spend the rest of her life with me. I proceeded to get down on one knee and ask her to marry me. And she said yes!!!