It was March 2022, and I was living in Little Rock, Arkansas. I was driving my little 2000 Saturn at the time (if you know, you know) and decided I needed a better car. So, on March 31, 2022, I decided on a whim to drive home to St. Louis to buy a car I had found online a few days earlier. I contacted the dealership and let them know I was on my way and would be there in around six hours. They said they hadn’t had any interest in the car yet, so it should still be there when I arrived. Of course, with my luck, they sold the car while I was on the way.

I arrived home and figured I’d just spend a nice weekend with my parents instead. Now, if you know me, you know I’m not exactly spontaneous, so taking this trip on a whim was not a great idea. I hadn’t prepared at all for the trip and kept thinking about all the laundry I had to do and how I hadn’t cleaned my apartment. I told my mom I’d have to go back the next day — because I should know better than to try to do something without extensive research that normally ends with a spreadsheet detailing everything. She totally understood, and we went to bed.

Before I actually went to sleep, I figured I would do what any single girl would do when visiting a city different from where she lives — I opened Bumble, just to see what was out there. The choices in Little Rock really weren’t great, so I figured it couldn’t be any worse! I came across this really cute boy named Matt. He was 26, 6'4" (score!!), and VERY cute. I swiped right — and the rest was history!

Fast forward to August 2022, and we're in New York City for Matt’s 27th birthday. The week prior to our trip, I had gotten a horrible sunburn on my shoulders that hurt anytime I moved, but I got all I could out of my little travel sunscreen and braved the outdoors once again so we could go to Central Park. As we were walking through the Bethesda Terrace Arcade, Matt grabbed my shoulder to stop me from walking through someone’s photo. Of course, he grabbed my sunburn — not knowing it would hurt me — and I, of course, got annoyed. I started walking even faster than I already was (my inner Northeasterner came out), and I walked right past Bethesda Fountain. Unbeknownst to me, Matt had been planning to ask me to officially be his girlfriend in front of the fountain. He ended up asking me later that night at a hole-in-the-wall barroom we found near where we were staying.

Two and a half years later, Matt took me back to the place where we went on our first date — Defiance Ridge Winery. Instead of walking inside, Matt took my hand and we started walking in the other direction. It had snowed about a foot the previous week, so as we made our way to what would become the proposal location, we were climbing over snowbanks and slipping on ice. It was quite graceful. We finally arrived at the top of the hill, and Matt got down on one knee!

It was April 1, 2022, and I was living in Creve Coeur, Missouri, with my roommate at the time (and now groomsman) Kevin Magee. It was like any typical day for us, hanging out, playing games, or watching shows. In the midst of such an exciting day, my phone rings, and I see that I've matched with Meredith on Bumble. We continued talking the rest of the day, even during the Blues game that evening. I’m usually glued to the TV, but I found myself wanting to talk to Meredith instead, a mindset that has never changed since our paths first crossed that day. After a month of talking, Meredith was able to come back to St. Louis for a weekend, where we finally met for the first time and went on our first date.

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Over the next few months, we talked from the moment we woke up until one of us fell asleep on the other at the end of the evening. She would come back to visit a handful of times, and I eventually made it down to visit her in Little Rock. Each passing day, I felt that something was different this time, as I found myself wanting to talk to Meredith every day and see her as much as possible. Despite those feelings, I never got my head out of my butt to finally ask her to be my girlfriend. After a few months, we planned to go away to New York City together for my birthday, and I knew this was the perfect time to make it official. We decided to explore Central Park one day, and I wanted to do it in front of the fountain at the Bethesda Terrace Arcade, only for me to drop the ball completely and annoy Meredith (as I typically do) by grabbing the sunburned portion of her arm. I eventually asked her at a cozy, hole-in-the-wall pub in Manhattan later that evening, and the rest was history.

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The next two and a half years were filled with lots of fun adventures together, including Meredith’s favorite trip we ever took together to Las Vegas (it was her worst nightmare, actually). Over that time, we grew closer, and I felt happier and more excited to be with her every single day, eventually reaching a point where I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I took her back to Defiance Ridge Winery, where we had our first date, and, after hiking over the snow, ice, and mud, I proposed to her!