Ironically, Elisabeth and I never formally met! About two years ago I started coming to Antioch after being invited by Mike McGurk, who I was connected with from my longtime school counselor, John Watts. Serving and being more involved, specifically doing Bible studies at the church, I ran into Elisabeth countless times. We didn’t talk much, but there was lots of side eye and definitely something there. We slowly opened up to one another and became friends through competition in board games, and boy did I learn quickly that neither of us liked to lose! Spending time together and talking more, both of us could tell that there was a shared interest in one another. Looking back however, we had different perspectives when it changed from just being friends to something more serious. Despite the rollercoaster of events, we finally found each other on the same page and once Christmas came around, the rest is history.

Once upon a time, Esther (my sister) and I were going to see the sunrise at the Tidal Basin on a Friday morning. Jacob had told me the night before that he was working a 12 hour shift that may get extended to 18 or 24 hours, and I probably wouldn't see him until Saturday. Somehow Esther convinced me to wear a nice dress so we could take cute photos with the flowers, Jacob echoed this idea, and so I agreed. That morning we got to the Tidal Basin and parking was crazy. I was so oblivious to the events to come that I even suggested to Esther that she pull over and just take turns waiting in the car while the other one goes to walk around. She said that was ridiculous, ended up parking totally illegally, and off we went. We took a couple pictures and Esther started walking to the Jefferson Memorial. She was just sort of plowing ahead of me up the stairs and I stopped at the bottom to admire the memorial. I stopped to send Jacob a picture of the flowers and memorial and headed up the stairs. As soon as I got to the top I saw Jalen (Esther's husband) standing there. Now keep in mind, I am not a morning person, it was about 7AM, and I had not had coffee. I was confused. Then Jacob comes out from behind a column. At first I was just excited to see him, and then he handed me a bouquet of my favorite flowers and got down on his knee. He asked me to spend the rest of my life with him, to which I responded with a very excited and still slightly shocked yes! I've always loved the cherry blossoms, but now they're just extra special because they'll always remind of the day my best friend asked me to be his wife.