How We Met
Mackie and I met the old school way in the fall of 2016 in Charlotte, NC. I was in town for a Carolina Panthers football game and following an unfortunate loss, a couple of friends and I made our way to a local bar for drinks. Unbeknownst to me, Mackie saw me the moment I walked into the bar and knew he had to talk to me– the rest is, as they say, history.
how they asked
A year later, while we were eating lunch together in October 2017, Mackie received a “random” phone call from his sister saying she had “won” a November offshore fishing trip at an outdoor sports banquet but couldn’t go and instead “offered” the trip to us. I was all for it, especially since it meant we could spend that weekend with my family at my favorite place in the entire world: our family’s beach house at Ocean Isle Beach, NC. So on a beautiful and unseasonably warm November day, we set out from Calabash, NC on what I thought was an ordinary half-day fishing trip. After a (very) successful afternoon of bottom-fishing, the captain “suggested” that we spend the last bit of the day trolling just offshore. We made our way up the coast and upon reaching the west end of Ocean Isle Beach, we decided it was time to reel in and call it a day. As we were drifting just offshore while reeling in our lines, the first mate handed me a marlin catch flag (flags you raise to tell other boats what you’ve caught) and told me I should go raise it just for fun so we could fool everyone on our way into the dock. Always ready to tell a fish tale, I happily obliged.
The late afternoon sun was dropping lower and lower and the sky which meant the temperatures were also starting to drop so after raising the flag, I headed into the cabin to grab a sweatshirt for the ride back. With the sun just over the horizon, the first mate approached me with another rolled-up catch flag and told me that the Captain wanted to raise this one instead before they fired up the engine. Without giving it a second thought, I pulled the first flag down and unfurled the second flag to find… a diamond ring printed on it!
In complete shock and confusion, I turned around to find Mackie down on one knee with a diamond ring. I was in so much shock that I almost forgot to give him an answer but of course, I said yes!
The story doesn’t stop there, and neither did the surprises. Mackie not only brought out a bottle of Champagne and monogrammed Champagne flutes to celebrate with, but he also had a blank sheet of paper and an empty bottle for us to write our own message in a bottle. We tossed it out to sea just as the sun was setting over the ocean before heading back to the dock where both of our families were waiting for our return– yet another complete and total surprise for me.
Needless to say, Mackie pulled off a one-of-a-kind surprise proposal and it couldn’t have been more perfect. Oh, and the boat we were on? Its name is “Lucky Strike.” We’re looking forward to tying the knot in Charleston, SC on September 22, 2018.
