Frannie and Steve officially met on August 26th, 2015: Freshman Move-In Day at Lander University. She stepped onto the elevator of Centennial Hall after saying goodbye to her mom, and she was greeted by two young men. “Hi, I’m Jamarkus,” said one. The other nodded with a “Steve.” She shyly returned greetings before getting off on the third floor while the boys continued up to the fourth.

For the rest of freshman year, Frannie and Steve would orbit around each other without ever having another conversation. It would take until the end of sophomore year’s fall semester for their paths to cross again. After studying together in a group at the Jackson Library for a final exam, Steve knew he was interested in Frannie. She went on to leave a lasting impression on him when she sat next to him for their pathophysiology exam. She had overslept her alarm, threw on the nearest clothes, ran to Barratt Hall, and slid into the last auditorium seat available; it was next to Steve. She immediately discovered upon sitting that she had put her underwear on backward. In disbelief at her own misfortune, she had to tell someone. As the students wrote their names on their Scantrons, she turned to Steve and admitted, “My underwear is on completely backwards.” He didn’t have time to comprehend what Frannie had just said before the test began.

That winter break, their love story began. Steve slid into her Snapchat DMs with a message that read, “text me if you’re bored sometime.” Moral of the story: Frannie was bored. Neither had any idea the whirlwind adventure they were about to embark on. They intermittently dated throughout their college years, going on hikes in the Appalachian mountains, dressing up as cows for free Chic-Fil-A, taking day trips to Greenville, and spending countless hours studying for nursing exams over coffee purchased with Bearcat Bucks. And while F&S absolutely want to spend forever together, they needed time to grow individually and find their own narratives.

Fast forward to 2020, and both characters in this love story had graduated nursing school and worked in various ICUs in Columbia, SC: Frannie in a neurosciences ICU, Steve in a cardiology/telemetry unit. The pandemic was fresh, the world was dark, and these two nurses were frontline to it all. Almost overnight, Frannie and Steve had evolved from uncertain young lovers into adults who had weathered storms, gained wisdom, and found their way back to each other - stronger and wiser.

In the summer of 2021, Frannie began travel nursing in Missouri. By the end of the year, she had convinced Steve to join her in Charlotte, NC. The next couple of years took them from New Mexico’s sweeping deserts to Massachusetts’s rugged coastline. Most importantly, it brought them solace and wonder from the untamed embrace of America’s National Park System.

To date, there are sixty-three national parks in the National Park System - not including national forests or monuments. During their travels, Frannie and Steve managed to knock out eleven (three of which are considered to be in the top fifteen least visited national parks.) For their honeymoon and in the upcoming years, the newlyweds plan to visit as many parks as possible!