From Charlie's Point of View...
 
Go Lopes
 
Charlie and Katrice's story starts, let's just say, less than romantic. At a mediocre coffee shop in Enumclaw, Washington was where Charlie Pratt first laid eyes upon his future University Admissions Counselor (UAC). In walks 17 year old Charlie with his parents and sister, free coffee in hand (courtesy of GCU), to sit with Katrice Pond at a round table next to the front counter and discuss university finances. She was younger than he thought she would be.
 
Charlie and Katrice soon began to see each other more and more as they were both involved in YoungLife. Charlie was a student leader at White River High School, and Katrice was an adult leader at Enumclaw High School. They shared many laughs and fun experiences at YoungLife clubs, Charlie wooed Katrice (probably) with his Mr. Christmas Tree pageant skills, and they even carpooled to and from a leadership training day with some friends. This was all prior to COVID shutdowns which saw a large decrease in social gatherings and the amount of times Charlie and Katrice saw each other.
 
With the onset of summer, and the graduation of the high school class of 2020, came unending rounds of fishbowl and unnecessarily competitive spikeball faceoffs at the Pond River Ranch. A place that, in just a couple years time, would be like another home for Charlie. A place where Charlie was first introduced to Katrice’s parents: Stephanie and Dave Pond, and her younger siblings: Clive and Kennedy. The end of the summer saw Charlie and Katrice participate in the first Rainier Hills YoungLife pickleball tournament alongside many friends, new and old, and a couple fellow Lopes (go GCU). And that summer of 2020 wouldn’t have been complete without the infamous loss that Charlie Pratt and his friend Riley McElroy had against Katrice and Dave Pond. No rematch was ever recorded. This devastating loss may withstand the test of time and leave a permanent stain on Charlie’s athletic career.
 
 
Volleyball Cheese
 
Now Charlie was finally at GCU, living through his first year as a college student that, other than a couple instagram messages, was almost completely void of Katrice. Charlie still remembered all the positive interactions he and Katrice shared leading up to his time at GCU, but I don’t think he, or anyone else for that matter, would have guessed the role they would play in each other's lives. But this soon started to change.
In February of 2021, Charlie got a message from Katrice. You see, Katrice was planning to play in a 6v6, coed, volleyball tournament in March, and they needed just one more player. Randomly, she remembers one of her cool and fun reg’s (kids she registered for GCU), one that happened to play club volleyball in high school and at GCU. So she shoots him a text, and Charlie is incredibly stoked that Katrice thought of him for this tournament, so he ends up flying home for a few days. This tournament was located at Fieldhouse USA at the Outlet Collection in Auburn, and a volleyball club had recently moved into the facility. Katrice happened to be coaching there and it turned out they needed some extra assistant coaches, as well as some help taking care of the facility. So that summer when Charlie returned home, he got right to work as an assistant coach for two teams and also helped the club take care of the facility. This included taking care of the courts, working behind a desk during tournaments, printing shirts, and helping to run open gyms. This is when sparks really began to fly.
 
Excited to learn how to coach, and excited to get to play more volleyball, Charlie spent a lot of time around Katrice, someone very good at both of these things. And the two of them became quite a volleyball duo. They would spend at least two days a week playing in open gyms, even with Charlie fighting tendinitis in his knee. And after a volleyball coaching clinic, they even ended up going to a volleyball camp in Tillamook, Oregon to coach. Charlie and Katrice spent many nights talking for hours in the parking lot of Fieldhouse USA after open gyms, but nothing quite bonded them like the car drive, smelly sewage, and bucket of cheese that awaited them at Tillamook.
 
But alas, summer had to come to an end, and Charlie had to return to GCU. This summer of 2021 would be a summer they would both never forget, possibly the best summer of their lives. Katrice went from being his UAC and YoungLife acquaintance, to being, as his mom said, like an older sister to him. All jokes aside, Katrice became Charlie’s best friend, and Charlie her’s. After one final game of Ticket to Ride, Charlie and Katrice said their goodbyes, and Charlie was back in Arizona, without his best friend.
 
The Beginning
 
During his second year as a lope, Charlie stayed in touch with Katrice pretty well, unlike his first year. He saw her during welcome week (the first week of school) as she still worked for the school and had certain responsibilities down in Phoenix throughout the year, and they even went on a bit of a sushi and movie date. Even after this, when Charlie and Katrice were in different states, there were many texts and life updates, along with a few long phone calls. This all being before Katrice’s first discover trip down to GCU (work trips where she would fly down to GCU with a group of students to tour the campus).This first trip was the weekend of October 16th, Katrice and Charlie had been apart for roughly a month and a half.
Once the kids were in the hands of GCU, Charlie and Katrice went to get some food, and ended up back in his room to watch Star Wars (she had never really watched, this was a problem). After an awkward side hug, they began the movie, and by the time Luke and his crew first made it to the Death Star, Katrice’s head was on Charlie’s shoulder.
After the destruction of the first Death Star, Charlie and Katrice went to a GCU women’s volleyball game with Charlie’s roommate, Josiah, and his future wife, Sarah. This game was a fun experience for Charlie and Katrice, bringing them closer together, but the highlight of the game came when they were leaving. While Charlie was in the bathroom, Katrice ran into the parents of Erin Vicente, one of her best friends from college. It was amazing for Charlie to get to meet these two as they were like a second set of parents for Katrice while she was attending GCU, she often referred to them as her “Phoenix Parents”.
After returning to Charlie’s room, the next logical step was to watch a horror movie. Katrice did not like horror movies, so her head ended up on Charlie’s shoulder, and her hand in his. To calm down after Insidious, Charlie put on some New Girl, but her head and hand remained. Not wanting to just be snuggle buddies who watched movies together, Katrice asked the question, “so does this mean we’re dating?” This took Charlie by surprise and his heart began to race, as he was expecting to be the one to say something first. But being that it was exactly what he wanted, he responded, “I wouldn’t want it anyother way”.
Charlie walked with Katrice to his car and drove her to her hotel. He returned in the morning to take her back to GCU where she would be shuttled to the airport. And he took the opportunity to officially ask her to be his girlfriend, as he felt there needed to be something more official, something a bit more traditional. She said yes, and their story began.

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