Let’s do this!

Cassie, Yolanda, and I were just some UGA grad school students far from home with no family close by, except Cassie’s uncle John. He adopted us with open arms, and we would go to his house for holidays, special events, or just if we had a free weekend. One day in June after we all finished grad school, I was headed to see uncle John on one of those free weekends. We were going to hang out with his daughter Karly for the day and his son, Eric, was going to join us for dinner. At dinner that night we all had great conversation, I thought Eric was cute, and we talked about a new X Men movie that was coming out that we both wanted to see. Shortly after dinner Eric said he had to go as he had plans with some friends. Suddenly I said, “Wait, I thought we were going to go see that movie.” A little forward, but it worked because he quickly called his friends to postpone then we headed to the movies. I mentioned to Eric I didn’t feel great (I had felt full all day and didn’t eat much at dinner) but I thought I would be fine. Shortly after we sat down in the theater, I told him it was time to take me home RIGHT NOW (the previews hadn’t even started). Despite surely being annoyed, he got a refund for the tickets and I assured him I wouldn’t get sick in the car on the way home. When we walked into his dad’s house, he said “what are y’all doing back already?” I said, “I think I have food poisoning from lunch,” as I quickly made my way to the stairs. He said, “you’ve gotta be shitting me!” to which Eric replied, “well not yet she’s not.” Mortified, I went upstairs and proceeded to be very sick all night but to my surprise I got a message from Eric not long after saying he had enjoyed meeting me and asked for my number! He visited me in Athens the following weekend for Athfest (a music festival) for a real first date and the rest is history!

I had purchased the ring thinking I would propose on our 5th anniversary at the end of May. Trina reminded me shorty after my secret purchase that our anniversary was in June and that we should do something special. My plans were foiled. It was a random Thursday in May (I couldn’t wait any longer). Trina thought we were going to have a date night at a local restaurant, but little did she know I had something much bigger planned. A series of sticky notes led her to get dressed up and get into a strange uber bound for Piedmont Park. Upon arrival, she found a lakeside picnic with our favorite signature drink poured next to me shaking nervously... Thankfully I made it through my prepared speech, though not without some tears and voice cracks. I popped the question and took the HUUGE ring out of my pocket. Through the uncontrollable smile, Trina exclaimed, “YES!” Whew! I don’t know if I’ve ever been so nervous in my life, but I also know I’ve never been so sure of a decision.