Mawwiage

June 1st, 2019: the very first time I saw Molly. Gavin and I were at the pool throwing the football. Her infectious smile was likely what caused her to stick in my mind, though we didn’t meet that day. The apartment complex was starting up volleyball nights and I went to check it out. While I’m very grateful to have met many great friends out there, I must say that I was pretty happy to see the girl from the pool was out there. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t meet that night either. In the vball group chat, one of the ladies says that she was new to town requested that some people show her some of the sites of Charleston. I wasn’t certain it was her, but I had a good feeling it was. I offered my touring services for Sunday, but that wasn’t the day she wanted to do stuff. Only one person responded about wanting to go, so not only would I still not be meeting the girl from the pool, but I was left with someone else. The next weekend I was coming back from Myrtle with Gavin, and the group was meeting up at Ghost Monkey brewery. There, sitting there with some other ladies, was the girl from the pool. I sent in a reconnaissance team, consisting of one 9 year old boy to gather intel. While Gavin technically met her first while playing Jenga, he never called dibs. Molly and I finally met. She mentioned that she wanted to go to the beach that Sunday, and Gavin and I were on board. No one else from the group decided to join. So while we all went to the beach, I couldn’t help but wonder if I just forced this girl to hang out with some guy and his son. I waited to ask her out. On 6/24, I picked her up, but her roommate needed a ride to her car. So here I am, once again, uncertain if I’m on a date, or if I’m just the Uber. We eventually got to spend the evening just us two, and had a wonderful time. Fast forward nearly two years, and I couldn’t be more happy. I finally got to meet the girl from the pool, and now I’m just trying to make her smile at me one more time.

I saw Michael many times by the pool and by the grills - but of course I didn't utter a word or introduce myself (must have been sober). My roommate Audrey told me about this group that wanted to start playing volleyball and added me to a group message for it. (Michael claims Molly turned him down in this group message but it was a mistaken turn down of an invite on her part). Turns out, they wanted to get the apartment crew together to go to Ghost Monkey Brewery to all hang out and meet. Brewery? Sign me up!! I got the the brewery with Audrey and see Gavin (which I knew was the cute guy Michael's kid) sitting there looking for ME to play Jenga. Molly and Audrey got right in on that game. So FINALLY Michael was forced to introduce himself to the weird girl playing games with his son. The night was so fun with the whole group, and even led to Michael and Gavin asking me to the beach the next day! Long story short, after a few weeks and around my birthday, Michael wanted to take me on some rooftop tours of Charleston for drinks. Manhattan after manhattan, and the rest is history! :). We've been inseparable since July 2019 and I've never been happier!

First Step: I got Christmas presents that included: 2 night stay in Asheville in January, manicure and pedicure gift certificate for before we go, 1 hour massage during Asheville, 1 dinner for 2 in Asheville at a fancy restaurant, and the cutest notes to build excitement for our little vacation. Second Step: Asheville! Morning massage while Michael does his whole working out thing, perfect light snow falling for the morning/afternoon hike to a waterfall. Third Step: Waterfall was more crowded than Michael had intended and almost decided to wait until dinner. We found a secluded pathway to another small waterfall and took it down. He was searching for something in the bag - told me it was the flask of whiskey - so obviously I waited patiently. He did grab the flask of the whiskey we aged so we could have a sip on the waterfall. Anwayyy - We love setting up the camera for our pretty background hike pictures. So I'm doing the robot as he is getting it set up (videoing all of this) so that he could video the proposal. He kept telling me all these nice things so I kept kissing him to make him stop talking because that's how much I love compliments. Turns out, he dropped to a knee after that and wants to spend the rest of his life with me!