#partywiththepomps

M: My friend/sorority sister Nicole asked me to go home with her to Camarillo from USC for the weekend just for fun. She then told me it was her little brother's prom night and did I mind going to the picture taking. Of course, I said no and actually ended up taking a lot of the pictures (including of Ryan and his date). We drove them AND picked them up from prom and I said I couldn't wait to see Ryan at USC in the fall when he was a freshman! R: My sister brought a new friend home. She took a bunch of pictures and they both interrogated me for details about my prom. Said something about hanging with her at USC which I brushed off because I was still an angsty high schooler.

M- It was my spring sorority formal and my date just had to tell me he had to cancel. I was bummed and ranting to my friend Nicole about how I would be the only one without a date. We tried to brainstorm options until she suggested I "just take Ryan so at least I'd have someone to take pictures with." I ignored at first but ultimately thought, "Hey, we have seen each other a couple of times on campus, even had a class together, sure why not?" I slid into his texts with the classic "Hey what's up, hello" and he obviously said yes. By the end of that night, I realized I was in trouble... R- One day as I was deep in my accounting books, I got a text from that one friend of Nicole's who took my prom pics. Said something from a Fetty Wap song and I was sold. As the night went on I started to realize she was way out of my league. Not sure if it was the long islands or how comfortable I was hanging with her but somehow I got the confidence to kiss her.

M- We had been FaceTiming pretty much nonstop the entire summer of 2017. We hadn't had any discussion about "titles" but I was pretty sure the moment we were both back at USC that he was going to make things more official. We went nearly two weeks into the semester and still nothing!!! Finally he asked me to dinner and ice cream one night. We were standing outside of Salt & Straw and he asked "sooo will you be my girlfriend now?" I laughed, kissed him and said "FINALLY!" R- Was still kind of nervous around her even though we had talked basically every day on FaceTime for months. When I got back to school, I knew I had to make a move. We went to the most classic date spot of all- Salt & Straw. I asked her to be my girlfriend and she responded with "finally!" At that point, I REALLY knew that this would work.

M- For nearly two years (cut a little short thanks to the pandemic), I lived out of three suitcases and no permanent address traveling across the country for my job. This of course meant two long years of long distance with daily, weekly, and sometimes monthly countdowns of when we were going to see each other next. I felt so lucky that Ry was so supportive even when I decided to prolong the long distance by adding on another year of traveling. Through it all we still managed to make wonderful memories like spending an anniversary at the Cracker Barrel in Ruston, LA or enjoying a 30 minute time slot together driving around Santa Barbara in between my meetings. R- Although I was not the biggest fan of long distance, it was so amazing to watch both of us taking off in our separate careers. The fact that we could both focus on ourselves and still have so much love and dedication for each other made all of the long distance worth it. (My first Cracker Barrel experience in Ruston, Louisiana was also a high point).

M- When the pandemic hit, I moved into my parent's place for a little while why we tried to figure out what the heck was going on. Eventually, Ry made his way out to Tulsa and we packed up a Penske truck with my car on the back and headed on a one way trip to California! While we were figuring out where we were going to live, I was fortunate to get to live in Ryan's childhood bedroom completely decked out in USC wallpaper. Not exactly the experience you would expect to have but those months quarantining in Camarillo with the Pomp fam made even the craziest of times seem so fun. Eventually we moved into our apartment in downtown LA and I drug my cat Petepog across the country. The three of us spent way too much time together and I loved every minute of it. R- During the first part of the pandemic, I also decided to move home with my parents and sister for a while. This time at home resulted in a lot of Netflix, a new puppy, and a new roommate. Eventually I traded in my childhood bedroom and a brand new puppy for a downtown LA apartment with a grumpy old cat. All in all, it worked out pretty well. (Still working on the dog situation...)

M- I thought I had it all figured out. After completing my Master's degree from USC, my parents came to California to celebrate in Napa Valley with the whole Pompilio crew as well. All of my friends kept telling me "it's bound to happen. All those family members together?? In Napa Valley??? It's perfect." And I started to believe them. I psyched myself up a little bit but tried not to get too excited. When Ry and I dropped off my parents at LAX after the trip I finally knew "Okay well obviously it's not happening right after they leave that wouldn't make sense." That night after we dropped them off, Ryan had said he wanted to take me out to a nice dinner to celebrate graduation. We got all dressed up and drove to the Sunset restaurant in Malibu, the spot where our families first met. We walked down the beach and then as we were walking back Ryan got down on one knee. I wish I could tell you what he said but I immediately blacked out. When he then pointed to both of our families and best friends behind us, I was a puddle of tears for the majority of the night. It was perfect. R- I had been planning this out for months. A few months before with the help of my family, I designed Molleigh's ideal ring. The ring incorporated white gold from Gram and stones from my mom. Once the ring was finished I asked for the blessing of Molleigh's parents, her brother, and Petepog. I was 3 for 4 on getting the thumbs up. (I'll let you guess who did not approve...) Molleigh loves to know what's going on so I had to very strategically coordinate a secret plan with her family, my family, and both of our best friends. I thought I would be nervous but in the moment, it just felt so easy and right. She said yes!