I met Eric when I was 14 years old as a freshman at Chattahoochee High School. At first, I was not his biggest fan, because I was very unaware that he was not actually being mean to me, but rather just had a very sarcastic sense of humor. We had classes together over the years that ultimately culminated to a very strong friendship our senior year of high school, and our "technical" first kiss. We dated other people but always remained friends throughout college. During summer and winter breaks, I would come home to hang out at ATO with Eric and all of his friends, and even went to PCB to stay with them for the weekend during their fall break. He was just always a fixture in my life.

Fast forward to my college graduation in May 2015, I ended up moving back home and started working at Emory in their outpatient PT clinics. Eric and I began hanging out more frequently, as I was pretty unsure with my life path, and he had one more semester left at Georgia Tech. I drove down to ATO for Wet Friday (the first day alcohol is allowed back on campus) and remember being almost giddy about going to see him. It was that day that I realized I actually had feelings for him, especially after seeing him hug some other girl and realized I was filled with jealousy. I was of course worried because he was one of my closest friends, and it would be EXTREMELY dumb to risk that friendship for a crush. Thankfully, he kissed me in a bar a few weeks later, and I knew the feelings were mutual.

The weekend of November 14, 2015 was his final mountain weekend/semi-formal as a student at Georgia Tech, and he invited me as his date (which at this point was expected). Eric was in the job hunt, and there was a significant chance that he was going to end up moving out of state for work. An alcohol fueled conversation ensued (that I of course initiated) discussing our relationship status. Because of the likely move, I was unsure where we stood, but I didn't want to risk losing him. With the encouragement of liquid apple pie, I asked HIM to be my boyfriend, and he said yes.

Eric proposed on November 9, 2019, 5 days before our anniversary, on the same mountain weekend trip (now referred to as "adult mountain weekend") that our relationship began 4 years prior, surrounded by our closest friends, many of which were on that original mountain weekend trip with us. During those 4 years, we have made it through nearly 2 years of long distance, 3 years of me being in PT school, both of us starting new jobs, going from long distance to living together, getting a dog, and so many more events in between, and our relationship is all the better for it. I have my best friend, my person, my life partner, my soulmate, all wrapped up into one. He makes sure I know every day that his love is unconditional. He has supported me through everything and has never once faltered or questioned our future. I can't imagine my life any other way. I truly do feel like the luckiest woman on Earth to have found my person in Eric.

I met Erika freshman year of high school through some mutual friends, but didn’t really get to know her until sophomore year when she got stuck in English, Chemistry, and Homeroom with me. I think I eventually wore her into liking me despite my 16 year old self’s constant stream of sarcasm and inability to hold a serious conversation. We maintained a strong friendship throughout the second half of high school and parted ways when she went off to Florida State and I went to Georgia Tech for school. Throughout college we stayed friends and would go on and off communication over the years, with Erika visiting when she was back home, and me completely failing to hold up my end to visit Tallahassee. Erika was one of only a handful of people from high school that I managed to keep in touch with throughout the college years, and when she graduated in spring of 2015, she came back to stay with her parents while beginning the process of getting into PT school. I, of course, had been off and on crushing on Erika since sophomore year of high school.

Since I was not set to graduate until winter of 2015 (Victory Lap), and pretty much everyone we knew from high school was gone, Erika started to come hang out with me and my dumb friends at the frat house at Georgia Tech. It was around this time that I began to perceive some flirting on Erika’s end, but I mostly assumed it was in my head. I also believed there were plenty of reasons we should NOT try to pursue a romantic relationship. We were very good friends and it seemed like a bad idea to risk that. We could both be pretty stubborn when we thought we were right. And, most importantly, we had the same first name. Thankfully, after a few months of holding back, I ignored all of those reasons and kissed her at a bar in Buckhead.

For the next month or so, I avoided answering any “what are we” questions, out of my fear for what was happening when I graduated. Erika was locked into PT school at Mercer in Atlanta, and most of the jobs I had applied for at that point were exceptionally not in Atlanta. On November 14th of 2015, I again ignored my reservations, when Erika came as my date to my fraternity’s “Mountain Weekend”. It was this day that Erika pushed past all my sidestepping and asked me point blank to be her boyfriend. I, of course, had to say yes.

The day before Thanksgiving that year, I drove down to Jacksonville, FL to interview at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery for a job. I got the offer, and knew I had to accept it. But by this point I also knew that I was not letting go of what I had with Erika. We talked, and we cried, and we knew I had to go, but we also agreed to stick it out and make it work long distance. For the next two years, we battled against as many six-hour drives as we could handle, Erika’s rigorous PT school workload, my bizarre midnight shift hours, and some bad internet connections on aging laptops that could barely support Facetime. Finally, I had enough of that, dove into the job hunt, and finally found a job that would bring me back to Atlanta. We moved right in together.

Two more years later, my friends (mostly Hutch), decide that we should do another mountain weekend, almost exactly 4 years after Erika asked me to be her boyfriend. I ran it by all of our friends that we could get to go, and in front of all of our friends, I asked Erika to be my wife. I would not be the person I am now without her and without these past four years we have spent together. I am so thankful that she put up with me and our long distance to make it to where we are today, and I cannot wait to marry her in front of our friends and family.