How We Met
On the night of September 8th, 2016 I had no idea I’d be meeting the man of my dreams. It was a random Thursday night at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, classes had just started back up, and everyone was still getting into the swing of things. I was laying in bed watching Netflix with some of my best friends, dreading getting ready to go out. Out of nowhere my friend Jackie said, “There’s this really cute guy named Cody Sedlock visiting here tonight”. I didn’t think anything of it because Jackie was always telling me about cute boys around campus, lol thank you, Jackie.
But yeah, Cody was really cute and was visiting his old stomping grounds that night. Cody was visiting U of I because he had been drafted earlier that year in June to the Baltimore Orioles in the First Round of the 2016 MLB draft. Even though we are the same age, this made him have to pick up and leave U of I at the end of his Junior year in order to pursue his baseball dreams professionally. These are all facts I learned about Cody later that night, as I had only been to one baseball game for a sorority sisterhood event and he wasn’t playing during that game nor had I ever heard his name around campus before. I know it sounds a little weird that I did not know of Cody, especially since he was a huge draft pick, but during the time he was skyrocketing in college baseball our Junior year I was actually studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain.
Fast forward a few hours that night, and I had completely forgotten about the fact there was this cute guy visiting campus. It was one of my good friends birthday’s and we all went out to the bar I worked at on campus, The Red Lion. It was nearing the bar’s closing time so my friends and I walked outside to start heading back to our senior house. It was then that I hear my friend Jackie scream, “OMG, hi!” We turned around and her good friend from class who was also on the baseball team was standing there with, you guessed it, Cody. We got introduced to each other and the idea of getting late night food sounded amazing to all of us. Jackie and I started walking towards one of our favorite spots Papa D’s, and Cody and the two guys he was with followed behind us. We ordered cheese fries, mozzarella sticks, and pizza, classic us. I remember being way more interested in the cheese fries at that point because I had just gotten out of a messy relationship and wasn’t interested in pursuing someone, let alone someone that was just in town for the weekend. We finished our food and I ordered an uber for me and Jackie to go back to our senior house. The big blue van of an uber arrives and Jackie and I say our goodbyes to the guys. To our surprise, Cody and his two friends jump right in with us and head to our house to continue hanging out. We all get inside and first thing Cody does is he comes right up to me and sits down and starts asking me all about my life. Turns out we had way more in common than we thought, and talked for three hours just sitting on a tiny sliver of the couch. He told me all about his love for baseball and his family, and I tried to impress him with the fact I played softball back in high school, lol.
I started getting tired so I told the boys that they needed to leave because I wanted to go to sleep. I walked them outside and look behind me and Cody is holding open the door to my apartment saying “Chloe come here for a quick second please”. I came over and he said, “Put your number in my phone, I don’t want to wait for you to text me. I need to make sure you’re not giving me the wrong number here”. I did as he wished and before I could even look up from putting my number into his phone he pressed me against the door and started kissing me! I have to say it was a nice gesture ;). He wanted to stay and continue hanging out but I pushed him outside after the most amazing kiss. I needed my sleep and I wasn’t about to fall for some guy who was only visiting for the weekend.
It had not even been two minutes from then that I received a text from Cody, “Thanks for kicking me out I’m stuck sleeping outside on my friend’s couch.” I responded the next morning after telling all my friends about the best kiss I’ve ever had. We started texting a little and I thought he was a great guy, but I wasn’t interested in dating someone that was always traveling for baseball. However, I couldn’t help but wonder if I’d see him again, considering it was only Friday and he was in until Sunday. Sure enough, later that day Cody asked if he could take me on a date to dinner and a movie. I got so nervous about it and was busy all day with sorority rush so I decided to say no thanks. We continued texting that night but I definitely had my guard up and didn’t want to go on the date. The following day was Saturday, and he asked again if he could take me on a date, I said yeah, maybe. My friends kept convincing me that I should go on this date and I kept shutting down the idea. Finally, I agreed to flip a coin and if it landed on heads I’d go, tails I’d stay home. Of course, it lands on heads. I’m not sure why the idea of a date freaked me out so much, but I think it was just knowing that I’d have to say bye to him the following day, I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Being the second-guesser I am, I ended up texting him that something came up and I couldn’t go anymore. Of course, he was trying to convince me otherwise and so I felt guilty. I ended up telling him that I’d go but only if we went to Steak and Shake and got milkshakes because I didn’t want to go on some big, extravagant date.
Cody ended up agreeing to only go to Steak and Shake so we went and had the most incredible conversations, laughs, and connections all night long there. He dropped me off at my apartment and said he wanted to see me again tomorrow (Sunday) before he left. I agreed to another date, but said only Steak and Shake still. Guys, I’m not sure why I kept only wanting to go there, I’m not obsessed with their food or anything, I swear! I just thought it was easy and no pressure. Sunday he picked me up and we went to Steak and Shake again and talked for hours. It was time for him to leave for Florida so he drove me back to my apartment. I let him inside to hang out for a couple minutes and we put on The Office and kissed a lot. I told him I needed to go to the library and he should probably start driving to Florida. He was going to Florida because the first season after you’re drafted there’s something called Instructional league, which lasts for about a month from September to October. However, Cody wouldn’t leave my apartment and every time I tried to give him his shoes, he’d throw them around the room in different directions. Finally, I got him to put on his shoes and he said to me, “Let me buy you a ticket to come to Florida I really want you to visit me”. I said back, “No thanks I can buy my own ticket and I’m not sure if I should visit you in Florida we barely know each other.” He just shook his head and left. Before I even got back inside of my apartment, he had booked me a trip to Florida for the following weekend.
To this day I’ve always said that going to Florida was the craziest, best decision I ever made (even though I didn’t really have a choice, lol thank you, Cody). We stayed in a quiet hotel right on the beach and had the most fun, exciting, and romantic time… I was hooked. We started dating on October 14th, 2016 (about a month after I visited Florida) and have been madly in love ever since. We were long-distance through the baseball season months (February to October) and then lived together through the offseason months (November, December, and January). This past April of 2018, I even quit my job working in sales downtown Chicago to move in with Cody and travel with him full-time. We have been living and doing life together for the longest time now, and have grown closer and stronger than ever. I knew he was the one, even if I was truly in denial for the first couple dates, lol. We feel so blessed for having the relationship we do and thank you for letting us share a little of it with you!
How They Asked
We had talked about getting engaged before next baseball season which started in February of 2019, but other than that I had no clue when Cody was going to propose. I’ve always been one of those girls that would freak out if I got proposed to in not the right outfit. So, I ordered a few too many dresses from Revolve for any time in the next few months that I thought could be the proposal. We were going to Europe for the first two weeks of November so naturally, I brought one of the dresses, a really cute pink one, just in case he did it there. We had been enjoying our time on our trip and I was getting the idea that he wasn’t going to propose til Thanksgiving when we got back home. This was because my best friend texted me hinting that Cody had told her that he would be doing it around then. Little did I know, that was just to throw me off.
We had woken up on our second day in Santorini, Greece and Cody said that we should go to a winery for the day. I agreed and wore a little day dress I bought from H&M. I also wore gym shoes and brought my heels with for a cute picture at the winery. If you know anything about walking around Santorini, it’s that the ground and stairs are so rigid and steep you basically have to wear gym shoes or flats everywhere. So, we walked to an area in Thira, Santorini which is really the only place on the island to get a cab, it’s their main cab hub. I thought nothing of it since the winery was super far away I knew that we’d have to get a ride there. Cody said that we should walk back around this nearby church and take in the view while we wait for another cab to arrive. I walked with him around the corner and saw a big balcony, sort of like a white platform.
I sensed something was up, so I flung off my gym shoes and shoved on my heels to look a little more put together just in case it was happening. Sure enough, as soon as we got down to the platform, I was taken back by the most amazing view. It was my incredible boyfriend kneeling down on one knee asking me to marry him. I immediately said yes! I heard a couple loud clicks go off in the background and sure enough, Cody had found and hired a local photographer to capture the entire moment. It was so special and for the next hour after Cody proposed, we took pictures so that we could remember our engagement. Apparently, we were never going to the winery that day, and Cody even knew I wasn’t in the fancy pink dress I had planned to be proposed in, so he knew I wouldn’t expect it, lol.
