It was the Friday before the start of my last year of undergraduate studies and his graduate in 2012. I was out celebrating the start of a new year and reuniting with friends from the summer apart upstairs at Hokie House. Brandon was out playing pool downstairs at Hokie House with his roommate, and now groomsman, Chris who I had known for a couple years already through the honors fraternity we were both in. My friends and I were in touch with Chris that night wanting to meet up, so we walked downstairs where we also met his charming roommate. Brandon and I ended up talking the rest of the night ending it with the hope of going hiking the next day after I was done my shift at Deets, the coffee shop I worked at on campus.

The next day my shift ended and I hesitated calling Brandon - hiking with a stranger I just met!? I did it anyway, but invited my roommate to come along. Our first chaperoned date was incredible. We got to hike the Blue Ridge mountains next to Smith Mountain Lake and watched the sun set as we left for the evening.

Over the next 6 years there was a decent amount of long distance between us, but it made us cherish the time we had when we were together. Between ten months on opposite sides of VA, two years of weekend visits between PA and NJ, and a year and a half split between FL and NJ, we finally reunited for good in Florida in March of 2018 when I moved down for my final clinical rotation. Three weeks later, Brandon got down on one knee in front of all our friends and family on the beach at sunset.

We are excited to say "I do" on the same Blue Ridge Mountains we hiked for our first date and celebrate with our family and friends in October!