It was the summer of 2013. Christopher and I both worked as summer camp counselors for Richland County Recreation Commission. We were assigned to the same work location in Hopkins, SC. This would be my first year working with the organization and his 2nd. I was excited to begin working and meeting all of my future co-workers. I saw a few familiar faces as well as others I’d seen on social media. Most of us were home from college for the summer and eager to make back some of the money we relinquished over the school year. I met Chris at the job orientation and immediately recognized his name and face from high school peers and Instagram but I did not know him personally. I remember he would like my old pictures to try and get my attention. Way before we had the DM’s lol. We introduced ourselves but did not hold an actual conversation until 3 weeks later. Once work began, I would catch him staring and I admit I’d throw a couple looks here and there as well but we both played “hard-to-get” at the beginning. Chris was finally the one to make the first move and start a conversation. The following days we continued to talk and flirt and we finally decided to make plans to go out that Friday night. Our first date was to see Man of Steel and afterwards we went to get ice cream. This was the beginning of something new and exciting. We continued to hang out throughout the summer and tried to hide our new romance at work, which was a fail! Fast-forward to the end of the summer Christopher would be going off to school soon and I would stay home in Columbia to begin my second year of college. It was towards the end of the summer when he asked me to be his girlfriend. Of course I said yes=)

Fast-forward, 4 years later to May 13, 2017. It was the day of my graduation party and I was really excited to celebrate with my friends and family. I decided to show up fashionably late and was surprised that Chris was not already there. He finally arrived and the festivities had started to begin. I noticed that Chris kept leaving the table to go outside and was barely touching his food. And for him to barely touch his food was way beyond unusual! I tried not to think about it too much throughout the night. Later that evening, my family and friends began to deliver speeches about how proud they were of my accomplishments. When it became Chris’s turn I could tell that he was a bit nervous. I just chopped it down to him having to speak in front of a lot of people. He began his speech and poured out his heart about how proud of me he was and the love we had for each other. It was at that time, I began to get nervous. He dropped down on one knee and asked the one question every woman wants to hear, “Will you marry me?” I immediately said, “yes” before he could even ask me the full question. Now we have been engaged for a year and plan to marry on July 6, 2019, OUR SIX YEAR ANNIVERSARY. We cannot wait until our big day when we'll profess our love in front of our family and friends.