How We Met
It all started with a mutual friend, a cold snowy night, and a good old fashioned get together of Appalachian State college students at a house in Boone, NC. Very similar to how my Parents, Betts and Rita, did some 25 years ago, on that very same North Carolina mountaintop.
A sorority sister and I rushed into a house to socialize with so many other “Mountaineers”, but little did we know there was a person in the room who would bring that night to be one of the best things that had ever happened to me. All it took was our mutual friend, Jacob, to say “Logan, meet Mallory”, and the rest of the night was spent in the corner of the room getting to know each other and drowning out the fact that anyone else was even there. The night came to an end, and we both went our separate ways. I was thinking that I really wasn’t ready for a relationship to go wrong again, but he was just so genuine, interesting and gentle. We both left wondering if we would ever meet again.
It wasn’t long before we crossed paths. Jacob had given Logan my number, and Logan messaged asking to go skiing on a double date with our other mutual friends Dylan and Meredith. (I’m telling ya’ll, we got lucky when it comes to friends lol). But I was sick and turned him down, while also still slightly scared of the possibility of a relationship. Later that snowy night, Logan asked to stop by since he was hanging out with Jacob in the dorm that night anyway. He showed up with Vitamin C and Orange Juice, told me he’d love to see me, hoped I would feel better soon, and went on his way. Something about the simple caring gesture caught my attention. Next thing you know, he had asked me to go as his date to the Fraternity’s Valentines Date function, where he picked me up in the snow, opened the door to his car and had a rose sitting in the seat there form me. I realized then I had a true gentleman right in front of me and wondered how I ever stumbled upon him, especially during my college years. Then came Spring Fraternity formals, spring breaks, and him flying me in his plane for the first time, going to Florida to visit his family, and so many more memories adding to our ever-growing love story. We are blessed beyond measure, and ecstatic to continue our journey as one!
How They Asked
About three years ago, Logan told me we needed to go to the grocery store for something, we went to the wine aisle and he told me to pick out a bottle of wine that we would open on the day that we got engaged, then opened up a little box with his fraternity letters on a necklace and lavaliered me that night. (This is simply an old tradition still used today to state in college that you are in a committed relationship with the intention of marriage.) He had also written me the sweetest letter, telling me of his intentions with our ever-growing relationship. It’s amazing when I look back on this moment and realize that he really did know then, that he wanted to marry me.
Flash forward to December 16th, 2018, it was a normal Sunday. We woke up and went to church, but we also wanted to attend an extra group session after the service to find out how to get more involved. After the session, I had many things I needed to get done that day and was ready to get a move on, but our friends had just gotten out of the later service and wanted to grab lunch. I was hesitant at first, feeling all of the stress of what I needed to do falling on me, but agreed to a quick lunch. Now I really was ready to get going and not waste any time, so I rushed out of the church walking briskly across the courtyard while telling Logan how much I needed to get done and how we needed to hurry.
As I outpaced him, he told me to slow down, and I turned around frustrated to find him texting on his phone. I quickly said “What are you doing?”, and he replied, “Hang on, come back here” and he turned around walking back towards the church. Frustrated, I followed him thinking that he had left his wallet inside. He then turned around in the middle of our sweet church’s courtyard, where we had been growing our love together through our relationship with Christ, and got down on one knee. I burst into tears, realizing what was going on and yelled: “RIGHT NOW???”. I laugh at this now because it just really shows how shocked I was in the moment. I couldn’t stand, simply fell to my knees, in his arms, and said yes to the easiest question ever asked of me.
My friends and family rushed out from behind cars and trees, and even the church members in the parking lot yelled and honked their horns in celebration! That night we had a celebration dinner with all of our loved ones and then headed to his apartment before he dropped me off at mine. He came back to the car with the wine bottle we had chosen three years ago. We danced to Sinatra in the kitchen, read once again that sweet letter, and drank our 5-year-old wine that we had been dying to open for so so long.
