Troy and I met in our sixth grade science class and have been friends ever since. We dated other people, went to each other for advice, and always stayed in touch up until halfway through college. I was home on Christmas break around five years ago and Troy made a move. We spent the next year maneuvering through being long distance and somehow telling all of our friends that we were dating and the rest is history. The last five years have been shared together in moments of laughter, travel, and pure fun. They always say you always fall in love with your best friend, right? :)

Troy and I and two of our coupled friends planned a mini fall getaway to Asheville, NC. Being from Charleston, the mountains are a special treat for us and since Troy and I love to hike, the four hour drive is always worth it. Saturday morning, all of us got up early, drank some coffee, and got ready for our 5-mile hike in Pisgah National Forest. Everything was so normal and relaxed so I really didn’t have any expectations of a proposal. Troy drove us to the trailhead (or so I thought) and said we were going to go down to see this giant waterfall before going on our 5-mile hike. If you know Troy at all, he is not an “off the side of the road attraction with real stairs and handrails” kind of hiker so this seemed odd to me. I asked, “Why are we going here, this seems lame.” (Oops.) Everyone convinced me otherwise and said the giant waterfall would be cool to take pictures of and see up close. We all trekked down there and Troy was setting up his tripod and taking photos of our friends that came along with us which is completely normal because he takes pictures everywhere we go. He then asked our friend, Jackson, to take some of us so we went over closer to the waterfall and took some pictures. At this moment, I heard Troy’s voice get a serious tone when he said my name and I knew exactly what was happening. He got down on one knee in front of an amazing waterfall & captured it all at the same time. After we spent some time soaking it in at the waterfall, we went on to do our 5-mile hike and we popped mini champagne bottles at the top!