This is a picture of the day Eric and I first started dating! We went bowling with some friends and Eric passed me a note saying

"Roses are red,

violets are blue,

I can't rhyme,

but can I date you?"

This is a photo of us at prom together in 2019. Just a few short months later, Eric graduated high school and joined the Coast Guard. This started several years of long distance between us. I was still in high school in North Carolina while Eric was living in Portsmouth, VA. It was 6 hours away!

In 2020, Emma started college at Appalachian State University in North Carolina. It was still 6 hours away, but we would facetime every single day.

These few years were definitely challenging! There is no easy way to have a long distance relationship, but we both put in effort every single day to show up for each other however we could. This time taught us the value of knowing and accepting each other, through and through. We learned many new things about each other and made ways to maximize our relationship in preparation of forever.

In 2024, we finally beat long distance! When Emma graduated college she moved out to Virginia with Eric. It was our first house together! Everything started falling into place from this step forward.

We are engaged! We have known from the very beginning we would end up together. This is our start to forever.