How We Met
I first met Kaki the summer before we started college at Clemson University. My freshman year roommate invited me to cookout on Lake Keowee with some family friends. Little did I know I was going to be meeting the love of my life there. At the time we were both dating other people, so when my roommate introduced me to her, there was no expectations past a friendship between the two of us. An ACC championship football season went by and Kaki and I hadn’t seen or spoke to each other since we met on the lake. But later in the spring semester we again were brought together through mutual friends. This time we developed a friendship and all started doing things together. Another year went by and we both had become single. Our friendship had grown and we started to develop an attraction towards one another that was more than just a friendship. Finally, on June 24th, 2013 we began dating!
how they asked
This was a very tricky task because there were a lot of moving parts and not a lot of time. I asked Kaki to marry me at my senior football banquet on January 23, 2016. But before we got to this amazing moment, there was a week of chaos. In short, I drove to Columbia, SC, asked her parents for their blessing, found a jeweler to make the ring (in a record 5 days), and planned out exactly how I was going to ask her. So fast forward a week, we are at the banquet, seniors wear tuxedos (which is nice!) and my father, best friend Ryan Norton and I are waiting inside the banquet. I made sure our two brothers, who also play football for Clemson, were with the rest of our family and Kaki, to make sure everything ran smoothly. When our families walk in, we lined up and got a big family picture. As we began walking towards the seating area for the banquet and Ryan (who walked in front of us) is simulating a fake interview and suddenly yells for me to come and do one as well “about my time at Clemson”. Somehow I manage to drag Kaki into the interview and the camera guy asks me “What was you favorite Clemson memory?” You know, standard question for a senior. I replied “I’ve been here for 5 years and have had a lot of great memories, Well actually we are about to make one right now.” Then I asked her to marry me. Thankfully she said yes! Kaki’s mom was also a huge part of this plan all working out… without her I would not have been able to pull this off!
