Hi, Megan here. I started typing this out in third person to tell this story like a novel, but I'm going to write it from my perspective because you'll get the juicy story from me. Joe and I met in September 2019. I just got a job with the University of North Carolina working as an Athletic Trainer. Joe had already been there a year coaching. This is not a story of he saw me, I saw him, we fell in love, etc. It's actually quite the opposite and that's my favorite part. We were friends for three years. Three years of working together, hanging out with our friends and getting to know each other in the most non-romantic way possible. We were there for each other through so much and saw each other date other people. What's funny is now I look back and can see how much we truly cared about each other as people. I can see it because we did everything together and talked about everything. After three years of friendship, Joe took the risk to break out of the friend zone.

We started officially dating on January 25, 2022. But Joe breaking out of the friend zone was still not as smooth as the movies make it seem. When Joe told me that he had feelings for me, I was shocked. I did not expect it and I truly did not know how to react. So many scenarios ran through my head. The first one knowing that things just got messy. Do I like Joe? Why is he doing this now? Am I going to lose him as a friend if this doesn't work out? What's funny is, I confided in some close friends that knew both of us. Everyone's response was similar to, "Well of course he likes you, it's been obvious" or "Megan, you two are best friends, do everything together and have incredible chemistry, what did you think was going to happen?" My favorite though was one of my bridesmaids, Ashtyn, laughing in my face when I thought that I didn't like Joe. She pretty much said, "Yeah Megan you can keep telling yourself that but we know that's not true." We prayed about it and wanted to see if this was something God had for us. I asked Joe before we started dating where he saw this going and how serious he was about me. He looked at me straight in the face and said, "Megan I want to marry you." Needless to say, I melted into a puddle of mush and I knew that Joe was someone I wanted to explore a relationship with. I'd say it was one of the best decisions I've made. After we began our relationship, we both had drastic life changes. We both had career changes and moved to Charleston, SC. We were able to support each other through these huge changes while starting a new relationship. All these things have proven so much good, but more importantly how God has truly had his hand over us and guided us every step of the way.

Things moved quick for us. It definitely helped that we had a three year friendship prior to dating. Another factor was that we were able to support each other through big life changes of both changing careers and moving. We started talking about how we saw our lives going and we knew we wanted to start ours together. Now, I knew that we would get engaged somewhat soon when Joe popped the question, but he was able to pull off a surprise. Back story, we bought a townhouse in Mt. Pleasant! We closed on a house and it was move-in ready on October 15th, 2022. I am living in it right now with Joe's sister, Alanna (bridesmaid), and Joe is still living at the beach until we get married. Joe was actually away when I moved in because he was on a trip for a bachelor trip. He got out of all the heavy lifting of moving me in but was bummed he wasn't there to see our place. On October 17th Joe was flying back, I knew he would be tired from a long day of travel and I wanted him to see the townhouse with all the furniture in and experience the excitement in person of our first place! So I had planned to make his favorite pasta dish, got our favorite red wine and wanted to make the night special. Little did I know he had a bigger surprise for me. Now, I had no idea this guy had a ring or would propose after flying all day from the west coast. I was already in my sweatpants, hair on top of my head, and not anywhere near ready. I was ready for a lazy night in. As I was prepping for the pasta, I was chopping a shallot for the recipe. Joe opened the bottle of wine and did a mini toast and said something along the lines of, "Cheers to our first night in the house. Thank you for making tonight so great and cooking my favorite meal." I turned around looking at him funny like 1) why are you making this so formal 2) yeah yeah cheers. I turned back around to my cutting board and hear, "You know, the only thing better would be if you were my fiancé." As I turned around, there was Joe on one knee in the kitchen. In our first house, our first time in it together, making our favorite meal. It was simple, meaningful and perfect. What's funny is I kinda blacked out on what he said in the proposal. I was in shock and said the easiest yes of my life. He then told me to go put on some clothes because our dearest friend Layne was meeting us at the beach in 15 min and we were going to take some photos before the sun went down. The night ended with family friends coming over, we celebrated with them and enjoyed the simple yet most special night. I am so thankful for Joe and I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with him. He is an answered prayer. His leadership, work ethic and love for Jesus are all things I’ve prayed for. God has been so good to us and we can’t wait to start our lives and celebrate our union with our favorite people! “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭20‬-‭21‬ ‭