In the summer of 2018 we were both on temporary assignment flying out of the Myrtle Beach airport in South Carolina. It happened one day that Melanie was a flight attendant on my flight. I said to the other pilot “do you see that blonde back there ?”

As we were on a delay, I went to the back under the guise of talking to the crew, but really wanted to talk to Melanie. I didn’t recognize her, but we had flown together years ago in Punta Gorda and she remembered a funny ringtone tone that I had on my phone and asked about other things. In the end I asked “so what does a guy have to do to get your number.” Not wanting to embarrass me in front of the others she said “well, I guess you just have to ask.” I quickly replied “well…I’m asking.”

Later that week some of the crews were having a pool party that we both attended. I noticed Melanie’s kindness, easy going personality and her enthusiasm for life. I was struck by her not worrying about just sitting back and watching, but competitively joining in a game of tossing the football around the pool. Later in the evening we found ourselves talking. Conversation between us seemed to come naturally and I found myself thinking “this girl is something !”

Over the fall we began to spend more time together. I brought her apples from my orchard in Wisconsin and she baked me a pie. We took walks, went for dinners and would text each other to meet on the patio of the hotel for a drink, but were not officially dating. Melanie wasn’t going down that easy!

As the fall wound down, Melanie was scheduled to return to her base in Sanford and I would be based wherever they needed pilots as I was a “floating” pilot. As it turned out one of the places they needed pilots was Sanford. I never in the past would bid to go to Sanford, but I texted Melanie and told her “I’m coming for you.”

In Sanford we spent more time together in groups of people and alone and grew closer, but still hadn’t started officially dating.

In December I cut down a Christmas tree from my property in Wisconsin and brought it to Florida for Melanie and she said she had bought me Christmas gifts. We went out for dinner with a friend one night. When dropping me off at the hotel they came in to get the tree. As they were walking out her friend said “Melanie, you need to go back in there and kiss him.” I figured they had left when I turned around and Melanie was back in the room. She moved toward me and kissed me. After she was done she said “ok goodnight” and walked out. Are we dating now I wondered ?

Melanie went to her Mom’s house in Ft Myers for Christmas. As they tell it now she was constantly talking about this guy Cameron. Melanie and her Mom even face timed me. Her Mom said “if I have anything to do with it she is coming back to Sanford and going to date you.” When Melanie got back to Sanford she called me and said her and her dog Mahala were coming over. I replied “ok…when ?” She said “we are in the car now”

With that we were dating!

Over the years we fell in love. We’ve traveled, spent time with our family’s and navigated life’s ups and downs including Covid quarantines as a team We call it Team CamMel 🐫 ! Always coming out stronger and more in love.

We chose to get married in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge area because it has special meaning to both our families. My Mom and Dad honeymooned in Gatlinburg in 1969. Both of our families vacationed often in the area and Melanie’s Dad lived in Pigeon Forge.

We can’t wait to spend our special day with our friends and family !!

-Cameron