Drew had a 'crush' on me when I was a freshman and he was a senior. He would pass me in the glass hallway of our high school at the same time, every day. I had no idea, but then he returned after his freshman year of college and saw me at promenade in my white dress. He got my number and texted me the next day, "Is this Sarah McCliment?" I responded and said, "Maybe, depends who it is." He told me I looked gorgeous at prom and like most millennial romances, we started texting like crazy for the next few months. Although Drew was home for a few weeks, he had to start playing summer baseball in a town a few hours away. We didn't have the chance to hangout before he left, but we stayed in touch by texting novels to each other. Him between games and me between my breaks at the pool where I worked as a lifeguard, but it didn't move past that. Even if I felt like I could marry him someday, we didn't want to start a long-distance relationship and ended up losing touch for awhile. Then, one November day I decided to text him and we never stopped. He came home for Christmas break and our romance became a whirlwind. On Christmas day, he left a s'mores cupcake in a little green box on the hood of my car, too scared to ask me to come outside to give me the cupcake himself. On NYE, I asked him come see me at a party. Although it was snowing and his mother told him to not leave the party he was at for any reason, he did and missed the ball drop in the process (sorry Lorri). We brought in the first few hours of 2013 laughing and talking to each other. A few days later, we had our first official date and went to see "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" and realized we didn't want this to end. By January 6, on Hunky Christmas Eve, we made it official after we shared my first piece of paguch. Distance didn't matter anymore. As Charlie says in "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," we accept the love we think we deserve and we have been ever since.

Sarah always told me that she would know when I was going to pop the question. She was wrong. I planned a weekend getaway to Niagara Falls to celebrate my July birthday. Little did Sarah know, I had designed a custom ring a few months earlier while home for Easter. Rose gold. Champagne diamonds. With the ring safely in my suitcase, we trekked through backroads of northern PA, passed ski resorts and victorian homes in Ellicottville, NY, and stopped for some tacos in Buffalo, NY. Before getting back on the road to finish the drive, I slipped the ring into the small watch pocket of my jeans and had it waiting to pop the question. After crossing the border into Canada, we went on the Maid of the Mist boat to get soaked from the waterfalls. Already anxious with the situation, I decided to avoid certain disaster and not ask while in the middle of a body of water. After the boat ride, I felt like I missed my shot and then I saw the SkyWheel. I asked Sarah if she wanted to go on, but she looked at me like I was crazy (I typically don’t like rides, especially ones high in the sky). Broken in confidence and about to blow my cover, I decided to calm down and ask Sarah to go on a walk to ‘people watch’. Eventually, we ended up stopping and sitting by a strange looking tree, that we later learned was a Japanese Maple, overlooking the falls. We talked about life together and I knew the time was right. I didn’t get down on one knee, but I managed to surprise Sarah when I got the ring out of my little watch pocket. Between tears, she managed to say yes.