I know these are traditionally used for the “How We Met Story” but that wasn’t exactly my best work; and when it’s told, I often end up embarrassed. I’ll give you the short rendition here, but if you want to hear all the details, ask us at the wedding, and if you want to hear how I met Morgan’s dad… well, you don’t.

Junior year of college I was hard at work making sure I always had Bush Light on hand. The majority of my time was spent watching a game and drinking, downtown at a bar, the gym, or playing video games; there’s gotta be more to life than that. One night my neighbor had a party and since we were friends, we left our doors open and everyone hung out. I saw this girl show up with some of her friends and I knew I had to build up the liquid courage to talk to her. An hour or two later I saw them about to leave so I asked her for her Snapchat (classy). Little did I know that a couple of weeks later Covid would mess up our traditional school plans, sending her to the Outer Banks to go to the only ECU location that would allow for in-person instruction (politics, yeah!). I would occasionally text her to see if she was in the Greenville area so I could take her on a date. Each time I would get a vague response about how she couldn’t. I won’t bore you with the details but this went on for the next year. Every month or two I would check in to see if she was back in town. It never worked out. I think a lot of people would have gotten the hint and in hindsight, I don’t know how I didn’t. Looking back on it now, asking one more time gave me what I would eventually find out would not only be my wife but my best friend in the world who I’m so excited to do life with.

One evening Morgan came over to my apartment, I lived in a different apartment this time (that’s how long it had been), and we talked without the TV on, like humans should do, for hours. Two strangers found out so many things about each other in that time. I even found out that Morgan wanted to study abroad. When I pressed into that question a little bit I found out a little bit more about her personality because I found out that she WAS going to study abroad with no ifs, ands, or buts. I didn’t think too much into it at the time because hey, I’m hanging out with this hot girl. As the weeks went on, Morgan and I grew closer and she began to put “labels” on what we were. I started to get worried about her studying abroad and what it would do to our relationship if she were gone for a year. The thought was so scary that I began doing some research. What are these “study abroad programs” and “how to study abroad.” I talked with countless faculty at ECU to learn more about these programs even before Morgan was aware that I was doing so. At some point, I asked her what she thought about me going with her. I think I caught her off guard because I was someone who was perfectly fine spending the rest of my life in Raleigh, NC with the occasional trip to a Caribbean beach. “How the heck is this kid going to make it in a foreign country?” She was excited that I wanted to go with her but didn’t know how we could find a school that fit both of our educational needs.

Fast forward 8 months, trips to the French embassy in D.C., and literally miles of paperwork, we figured it out. There we were hugging our families goodbye, shaking in our shoes, about to move to another country for the foreseeable future. “What would this do to our relationship?” “How do you speak French?” “What side of the road do French people drive on?” “Is this crazy that I’m going to France with a girl I’ve only been dating for seven months?” Maybe it was, but I knew that we were both happy that we didn’t have to spend a year apart. Our time in France was some of the best times in my life. I learned so much about Morgan, myself, our world, and God as we both grew closer to Him by doing a Bible study almost every day together, a habit that we believe all relationships should implement and would benefit from. This trip changed me and I believe has set Morgan and I’s “relationship’s personality” up to always explore, always ask questions, be interested in what others have to say, and always slow down to take in the world around you despite what modern American life draws you into. I’m so glad that I stayed annoyingly persistent and tried one more time because if I hadn’t I would never be where I am right now. About to marry my best friend.

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