How We Met – by David: How did Ashley and I meet? Looking back there seemed to be a series of ravenous, potentially dangerous moves that lacked creativity, and in most instances would have left a man contemplating his next move. Maybe my extreme originality was charming, or perhaps it was my heart-rending innocence. Whatever the case may be, the end result speaks for itself.
While enrolled at Middle Tennessee State University, I actually attended a particular class on a seemingly average Thursday. It was with this sacrifice, I was given a gift that easily surpasses the grade I received. It was a gift that was worth every penny invested and still owed to the government for that piece of paper framed on my wall. I would sit through that miserable class regarding a subject that I truthfully don’t remember everyday for the next hundred years. I would be indebted by an infinite amount of money without regret. The amount of happiness I unknowingly received that day and have been lucky enough to still hold is invaluable.
Kelsey Phillips, who is a long time friend of Ashley and myself, shared a class with me at MTSU. Coincidently, the night before that class I had stumbled across Ashley’s profile on Facebook and sent her a ‘Friend Request’. As fate would have it, the very next day in class while I’m sitting next to Kelsey, Ashley unintentionally began texting Kelsey about me. Sure enough, plans were made that very night for me to meet Ashley and a group of her friends.
This put me in an uncomfortable and unfamiliar situation. There was never a time in my life prior to that night in which I met up with a group of strangers without a single friend of my own by my side. With all things considered, my awkwardness/wardrobe/earrings, our personalities were a match. That’s not to say that I didn’t continue crumbling under pressure. I left the bar that night without saying goodbye to a single person. That’s not all. I did not get Ashley’s phone number. I did not ask Kelsey for it. I went right to Facebook and sent her a message asking for it. Smooth.
Lucky for me, Ashley responded gracefully. Not only were numbers exchanged, but Ashley asked me to meet up with her the next night. I obliged, and the rest is history.
How We Met – by Ashley: On March 26, 2009, David and I met at a time in our lives where we both weren’t looking for someone but came into each other’s paths at a time we needed each other. I will always remember my first impression of him on Facebook when he ‘friend requested’ me. I thought who is this good looking guy and how did he come across my page. I noticed that my best friend was a mutual friend and I immediately texted her and asked how do you know David Salge. She texted me right back and said something that I don’t really remember but she was sitting next to him in a class at MTSU. My first thought was oh no, what is she going to tell him because she is not afraid to say too much. Shortly later, she texted me and said that he is going to meet us at a local bar in Franklin. Being the person I am, normally I would never do this but agreed to it anyway. I can remember Kelsey and I driving together to the bar not feeling completely nervous but was unsure how the night would go. We pulled into the parking lot. The moment I saw him get out of his car, I instantly felt nerves. I can’t even tell you if I waved, shook his hand or hugged him. The three of us walked inside to where Kelsey and I’s friends were. Since he was meeting up with my group of friends I felt the need to make sure he felt comfortable. Luckily, there were pool tables which he used to his advantage to impress me, which completely worked. I had my camera on me that night and did something that I wouldn’t normally do right away. At one moment during the night, I sat on his lap and took a picture of us. I felt a sense of comfort. From that night on, we were pretty much inseparable and made our relationship official on May 9, 2009.
how they asked – by Ashley: May 3, 2014, started off just like a normal day in Pittsburgh, except that weekend David’s cousin Katie and her boyfriend were visiting us. Katie is originally from Pittsburgh but it had been some time since she spent the day downtown so we wanted to make sure she got to see and do everything that was iconic to the city. We spent the morning waking up slowly hanging around our apartment. I remember Katie asking David when he was going to propose. To me it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Katie was always very supportive of our relationship and David had been receiving comments like that from people for months. I just laughed off the comment and went to the bathroom to finish getting ready for the day not even waiting to hear his response.
Our first stop was to eat lunch at Primanti Bros. We sat at a corner table and enjoyed each other’s company. During a moment at lunch, I turned to David and asked if I could wear his jacket because I was cold. Without any delay, he said no because he was cold himself. I can’t remember if I thought this or said it out loud but was like “Howw Ruude” (just like Michelle on Full House would). I didn’t put anymore thought into that as we continued to eat.
Our next location was to go see the newly renovated Three Rivers Point Fountain. If you see a picture of Pittsburgh, most likely this fountain will be in it. We briefly stopped by our apartment and scooped up Emmy. We walked the quick ten minutes through the park to the fountain. While walking we noticed in the distance a storm cloud that was heading our way. We strolled around to the front of the fountain where all three rivers meet. A short while later, Katie asked us to take a picture of her and Matt. After their picture was taken we handed Katie back her phone and David asked if we could also get a picture. This definitely was not out of the ordinary for us. Katie took our picture and started to walk towards us saying, “I got a good one!” David pulled a little away from me and put his hand up asking for one more picture. At that moment, I looked at him as he reached for his left inside pocket of his jacket. I immediately thought Oh My Gosh this is it, he is going to propose. And as soon as that thought came through I went right to the next not so exciting thought that never mind it’s probably just his cell phone to use as a camera.
As he pulled out his hand he was holding a small maroon jewelry box and was starting to kneel to the ground. With the short time it took him to get to the ground I had turned straight towards Katie with my hands over my mouth in compete shock. It felt like I stood there for minutes before I heard Katie say, “say yes”. As I came out of my blur mind, I turned back to David and he said, “Will you marry me?” I replied back with a tearful “YES!” After that moment, I saw my ring for the first time. Not even thinking, I also got down on my knees and hugged David with both arms wrapped around his neck. By this time, I had tears falling faster than I could wipe them away. I finally pulled away and saw my ring up close. I was in complete shock and awe on how perfect David did with picking out my ring. It was perfect. I again covered my mouth with both hands. I think at that time, we finally had our first kiss as an engaged couple. A few seconds went by and David took the ring out of the box and slipped it on my finger. You can probably guess that I continued to cry. Together we stood up facing each other. I put my hands up holding his face and kissed him once again. I think at that time Katie had finally reached us after capturing our moment with her phone. Katie and I hugged each other. I came to the realization that I was engaged and immediately called my mom.
She unfortunately did not answer my calls. With the way technology is nowadays, I took a picture of the ring on my hand with the fountain in the background and snap-chat a bunch of my friends. They only had ten seconds to view the image so I am sure they were completely confused by the picture. I immediately started to received phone calls and messages regarding the photo. I denied all phone calls except one because I wanted to talk to my mom first. However, I did end up answering my sister’s call. Once I answered I barely got the words out, “Jenny, I’m engaged!” She immediately started to cry on the other end of the phone and handed the phone over to her husband. I spoke to Doug briefly and told them that I haven’t talked to my mom yet. We got off the phone because Jenny was going to try to get ahold of her. There was one more phone call I received and that was David’s parents. I talked to them for a few seconds before I had to hand the phone to David because I couldn’t get words out. At that moment, the four of us started to feel rain drops. We looked behind us. That dark cloud that was in the distance was now sneaking up on us. We all looked at one another and headed towards our apartment. We didn’t make it far in the park before a down pour covered the streets. David grabbed Emmy’s leash and took off sprinting. We made it to our apartment door when we realized that none of us had keys. David’s mind was definitely elsewhere when we left our apartment that morning.
As Katie and I waited for David and Matt to return with our apartment keys, I finally spoke to my mom, grandmother and dad. We did not have much time to spend speaking to all our friends because we all had plans to meet up with David’s extended family for a Pirates baseball game.
This day could not had been spent any better. I was proposed in a city that brought David and I closer than I could ever imagined, we were surround by family and friends and we both spent the night watching and celebrating at a baseball park that we both grew to enjoy and love.