We are getting married!

I had known Riley in high school because #smalltownlife, but I did not meet him until freshman year of college at UA (circa 2017). My sorority was having a dinner swap and his fraternity was attending. I remember going up to him and saying, “oh aren’t you from Arab?”, to which he responded, “no, I’m from Grant.” (He obviously didn’t get that I didn’t know how else to start talking to him). He added me on Snapchat, but nothing flourished from that. A few years later, I was in graduate school at UA, and attended a tailgate hosted by Mick Gulledge. Riley was also at that tailgate, but I wasn’t sure he remembered who I was, so we were reintroduced. A few weekends later, I got invited to go to Oxford, MS for the Ole Miss vs. Alabama football game. I stayed with Reed Hairston who was dating one of Riley’s friends at the time. Little did I know, Riley was going to that game as well and staying with his friend, that lived in the same neighborhood as Reed. We hung out all weekend with the entire group — it was so much fun! I went up to Reed on Friday, November 11, 2022 and said, “I think Riley likes me”, she stated, “girl of course he does I think you should go for it”. Maddie Murray, Grant Hill, and Mick Gulledge were also present that weekend and played Cupid all weekend (thanks guys!!). So we continued talking and hanging out, did long distance while I was finishing up my externship in Charleston, did long distance while Riley was finishing up Law School in Montgomery, and three years later here we are :)

The first time I met Morgan was at the Chi O house during a dinner swap our freshman year at Bama. She very confidently guessed that I was from the wrong hometown. We crossed paths several times over the following years, but we never spent much time together—until a trip to the 2022 Alabama–Ole Miss football game, which we were both attending with separate friend groups. We hit it off that Friday night—something she may have shrugged off at the time, but I certainly did not. The next day was one of the coldest game days I’ve ever experienced. Still, that didn’t stop me from taking a twenty-minute ride in the back of a stranger’s pickup truck from my law school roommate’s RV to the tailgate at the Grove where she was. I truly believe that ride is the reason she agreed to go to a (much warmer) Alabama game with me the following weekend. We continued to see each other over the holiday break, but we both knew that, come the end of December, I’d be returning to law school and she’d be moving to Charleston for several months. Everyone knows the saying “long distance doesn’t work,” but we didn’t act in accordance with that. We shortly began dating. After several trips back and forth between Montgomery and Charleston, Morgan finally moved back home. The rest is history. She has helped me through law school, the bar exam, and the early stages of my career. I couldn’t be more thankful for her, and I can’t wait to see what the future holds.