We met in high school! Ryan transferred to Croatan his junior year, and Natalie was a senior. We wouldn't coin the term "high school sweethearts", but we started to become friends in our math class. After Natalie graduated in 2020 and left for the Air Force, we stayed in touch and facetimed every now and then. When Natalie moved back home from Texas, she started classes to apply for nursing school and Ryan started his first year at Chowan University. Over Christmas break in 2021, we went on our first date to Morgan's Tavern in downtown New Bern. Flashforward over 2.5 years later, and that's where Ryan proposed!