We're Getting Married!!

I work at WorldStrides in Charlottesville, and when someone leaves our team we throw a farewell happy hour for them. Back in April 2016, my friend Camille left our sales team so we threw her farewell happy hour at Kardinal Hall. One of Keaton's friends, Meg, who also worked at WorldStrides invited him to the happy hour (he was the only non-WorldStrides person there). I had never met Meg's boyfriend before so when they showed up together I just assumed he was her boyfriend! I eventually found out they weren't together after he started flirting with me! I was driving Camille to Harrisonburg that night as her friend's band was playing at Clementine's and Keaton decided to come along as I had another seat in my car (and he new the band playing as well). That night we shared an awkward dance, but he never ended up getting my number. He asked me out several times after this, all of which I declined because I wasn't sure how I felt. However, on May 27th (over a month later), I finally gave in! Thank goodness he was persistent! Our first date was perfect. We went wine tasting, bought and drank a bottle of wine as we got to know each other, ate tacos, enjoyed gelato, and then walked the downtown mall until we decided it was time to go home. I knew after our first date that he was someone special, and so we had our second date two days later over sushi. After that, it was all history!

It was a beautiful Friday afternoon, and I had just gotten off work when my friend Meg texted me that our mutual friend, Camille was leaving WorldStrides, a place they both worked at. To celebrate, a lot of the WS employees gather at a bar for Happy Hour. Would I like to come to it? I had 2 thoughts: 1. Are the drinks free? 2. Maybe I'll meet a cute girl there. We walked into Kardinal Hall to a table of lively WS employees. There was an open seat across from this attractive, smiling girl so I took it. Her name was Meredith. I started talking and joking with her and she reciprocated great conversation. I was flirting with her and she was confused because she thought I was Megs' boyfriend. I was not. I was just a guy wearing a backwards Mets hat infiltrating a WS happy hour determined to get to know Meredith. As the event was winding down, Camille told me a few people were planning on going to Clementines in Harrisonburg to see a mutual friend perform. Meredith told me they had 1 open seat if I'd like to come. Don't mind if I do! On the way to Harrisonburg, I kept poking fun at Meredith for having a giant snow shovel protruding from the back of her car into the back seats because I liked her. During the opening band, I grabbed her hand to dance to a song that was impossible to dance to. On the way back to Cville I called shotgun. I was making a great first impression. A few weeks went by when I passed Meredith on the downtown mall. Tapping her on the shoulder to say hello in passing she looked at me like "who's this guy?" Walking away, I lifted my sunglasses and smiled. "What's up?" After 1 visit to Bang! to see Camille, Meredith and I agreed it'd be cool to hang out again, even though I didn't try Meredith's Margarita cupcakes. I had to ask her on a date to reveal my true intentions. Our first date was perfect. All it took was wine, tacos, and persistence. Now we're getting married!

Keaton did a little fibbing as I thought I was going to be taking pictures of him for his website (he had been asking me for weeks to take pictures for him). I had the day off from work so I slept in and was going to go with my yoga pants on. I got a text from Keaton saying he wanted to get some pictures with me for the “About Me” section of his website, so I quickly got ready. Well it turns out, instead of me being the one to take the pictures, I ended up getting photos taken of me! Keaton proposed in the dome that was beautifully decorated at IX Art Park. He wrote “Meredith, will you marry me?” in pink chalk. After I read it, I turned around and saw him on one knee. I was pretty speechless at first but was able to mutter out a yes! Those who know me know being speechless doesn’t happen very often! Keaton had gotten one of our friends to hide out in the dome so we could have pictures of the proposal; he knows how much photos mean to me! After, we ate tacos at Brazos; we went there on our first date! We got to see both our families that night, and then we headed off to Cancun the next day to enjoy our time as a newly engaged couple!