If you know Connor at all, you would know there is no place he would rather be on a warm and beautiful spring day than on the golf course. SO… if you saw him standing on the steps of Study Hall (a bar in Clemson) on March 11th, 2023, you might have been a little confused. Let me tell you the back story.

Starting in January 2023, Connor’s roommate Kyle began hosting small game nights with a few friends from grad school (see the crew below), which is how Connor and I first became friends. About once a month, we got together to play games, but really, we just told stories and laughed a lot. On March 10th, we had a particularly fun, hilarious, and memorable game night. Throughout the night, Connor and I laughed at all the same things and kept making eye contact, and normally, I would think nothing of something like that, but this night was different. There was definitely a spark - so much so that I went home and told my roommate that I was not sure what had just happened. I was giddy but tried to let it go!

The next day was Ain’t Patty’s Day in Clemson, and all the game night friends went downtown except for Kyle’s roommates (aka - Connor). I told Kyle he better tell his roommates to “stop being lame” and come hang out. 20 minutes later, Connor shows up. Little did I know, he had just left his friend Geoff standing over a golf ball on the first tee of the Walker Course. We all went to Study Hall, and Connor and I talked on the steps like no one else was there for two hours. Then we rejoined our friends, and at the end of a great day, I invited everyone to join me at spin class at 6:45am the next Monday. Connor was the only one to show up, and he kept showing up three mornings a week for the rest of the semester.

The Friday before spring break, he gave me a book to read at the beach. While it was a good book, he really just wanted a reason to see me again along with an easy conversation starter. When we got back, we went for a walk to talk about the book. Pretty soon, we were going to spin class three mornings a week and walking by the lake every Wednesday afternoon.

On April 29th, 2023, Connor finally asked me on what I thought was our first real date. (He thought all our workouts and walks were real dates…) We made a picnic dinner and walked around the Botanical Gardens holding hands. Once the sun went down, Connor took me to our normal spot by the lake to sit under the stars and eat dessert. It was the perfect night… until he asked me to be his girlfriend, and I said no. Like I said, I didn’t know we had been dating!! The first 45 minutes after that were a little awkward, but as we talked it out, we came to the conclusion that we both really cared about each other and wanted to keep investing in our relationship - even if we weren’t boyfriend and girlfriend yet. And then the bottom fell out of the sky with the coldest, heaviest rain you have ever seen in your life. The next day, Connor came to my house to go for another walk, and everything was back to normal.

Over the next couple months, we saw each other almost every day - going to spin, walking, making dinners, and getting to know each other. I went for a road trip the first half of June, and I had no idea just how much I would miss him. When I got back, he made me dinner so I could tell him about the trip, but our conversation lasted hours longer. The night at the lake came up toward the end of the night, and I told him that if he ever wanted to revisit that conversation again, he could. Two minutes later, I was his girlfriend. Since then, we have become best friends, fallen in love, and are so excited to get married in November! Here’s to more long walks by the lake, game nights with people we love, laughing a LOT, and me joining him on the golf course so he doesn’t have to leave either of us ;)

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