Charlie and I share so many connections, it's a miracle we didn't meet sooner! I was born and raised in Mississippi and so was Charlie's mom, Mimi. Charlie, a Louisville local, grew up spending Christmases down in Jackson with his "Mississippi family" at his grandparents' house. Funnily enough, our grandfathers knew each from Ole Miss and high school football and had since stayed in touch. Speaking of Ole Miss, Charlie's great-grandmother was my dad's pre-med advisor during his undergrad years. There, my mom also got to know one of Charlie's aunts, who my dad later met through working in Oxford! I also followed in the swimming footsteps of his mom and another aunt, breaking some of their state records over the course of my high school years. Despite all of this, Charlie and I didn't know of each other until we were both committed to swim at the University of Louisville. Our parents became fast friends, to the point of his family hosting mine for dinner on the night we moved into our freshman dorm. That's when I realized I had a big ole crush on Charlie Crush! After a year of shy flirting and scattered movie and church "dates," we started officially dating in August of our sophomore year. From that point on, we never looked back! The past 3 years have been filled with dining hall dates, LOTS of movies, Pass the Pigs, and countless hours in the pool together. Getting to be teammates has been such a unique and FUN part of our story! Our last competition together was in February, but we each had our respective NCAA Championships 1 week apart at the end of March. Charlie returned from his last ever swim meet on March 29th and completely surprised me by asking me to marry him on a walk through Cherokee Park that evening. It was the happiest moment of our lives to this point. We are looking forward to a joyous celebration on September 26th of what the Lord so kindly brought together. As we start this next chapter of our lives, our prayer is that we can glorify God in our marriage and in all that we do, forever! See y'all soon- and make sure you bring your dancing shoes!