Long story short, we met in high school. I was a freshman, and he was a junior. Rather cliche, I had a crush on the upperclassman. I knew it would never happen, so eventually I moved on with my freshman existence and got over it. Fast forward to fall of 2012, and I joined the Potomac football team my sophomore year. I was the kicker, he was an offensive lineman. We got paired up during practice for drills. We went from teammates on the field to friends off of it. That friendship became "Wanna be my girlfriend? But we can't tell the team until after the season ends." Anyways, almost eight years later and now he's going to be stuck with me for life. Luckily for me, my unrealistic freshman crush turned out to be my soul mate.

On October 24, 2019 Stephen, his best friend Kayleb, and myself went for a hike on Old Rag Mountain in the Shenandoah. Its a hike that we had been on before, and both of us loved it. We had been planning it for months, and originally there were supposed to be more friends joining us. I wouldn't have thought anything of it, except two days before the hike Stephen says "Kayleb is bringing his fancy camera..... Make sure you look nice." Stephen has never told me to look nice the entirety of our relationship. With one phrase he made me incredibly paranoid and anxious for the next two days! Throughout the hike we took pictures, stopped and enjoyed the scenery, etc. Time after time he didn't kneel and propose. At this point I'm thinking "I got it wrong. He's not going to propose. Damn it! If he doesn't do it now, then WHEN? Its been SEVEN YEARS." We stopped for lunch and now I had given up and resigned myself that no proposal would be made and I should just enjoying the rest of our beautiful day and hike. We pack up, get ready to go, and then Kayleb says "Wait lets get some pictures." He had said that five times already earlier in the day so I didn't think anything of it. Stephen and I go out on this huge boulder, we snap a picture, and I'm like "Alright, lets go". Next thing I know hes kneeling down, pulls out a box from his pocket, and mumbles a whole bunch of things. Here's what I remember: "We met on the football field, and now we're on top of the world, and its about time. So, will you marry me?" I gave him a kiss, and then he goes "So is that a yes?" We both made each other speechless that day. It was a PERFECT proposal, a part from me not crying. And he'll never let me forget how disappointed he is that I didn't!