G and I met in the first period on her first day at Daniel High School. I asked for her schedule, told her I would walk her to her next class, and invited her to sit by me at lunch. This kickstarted our friendship and over the course of the next few months, we became best friends.

For months, I had thought I didn't want a girlfriend but after growing closer to G, I realized that had changed. On the night of December 11th, I asked G to be my girlfriend and we celebrated the next night at our first Daniel semi-formal.

After years of loving and growing with each other, it was finally time for our next-steps. I couldn't be more excited to spend forever and build a family with my best friend. But if you know G, you know it is nearly impossible to surprise her because she likes to know EVERYTHING. Thanks to my great acting skills (haha) and all of the amazing people who helped me along the way, I was able to pull off a miracle. We boated to an island on Lake Keowee where a photographer was hiding behind a tree to capture this special moment. In order to get there, we had to rush from me finishing my last football game on the second shortest day of the year to try to catch the sunset. Our dog, Brody, was VERY aware that there was a photographer behind a tree and refused to take his eyes off of the tree. G even said "I think there is a homeless person on this island." In attempt to get her off of the boat and onto the island I responded with "let's go check it out!" Thankfully, Brody got distracted by the sand and I got down on one knee. I opened the ring box upside down which led to many laughs and ultimately a "YES!"