How We Met
Josh and I met on New Year’s Eve and rang in 2011 together. We had a long distance relationship for over five years, as I was attending Virginia Tech and he attended James Madison University. Our long distance relationship continued as I attended North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina for graduate school and he started his career in Washington D.C. After graduation, I was fortunate enough to also start my career in the Washington D.C. metro area, and we were no longer in a long distance relationship.
how they asked
Josh and I went back to our hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia on Father’s Day weekend. It was June 17, 2017, and we were having a family-filled weekend celebrating both my birthday and Father’s Day. It had rained all day long, which ruined most of the pool day we had planned. Since the weather wasn’t the greatest and I was just around family, I didn’t care much about how I looked and wore a large, over-sized t-shirt all day and didn’t have any make up on. I couldn’t figure out why my sister kept saying, “Hey, are you going to put any makeup on?” It was weird coming from her, because why would she care if I was wearing makeup?
Eventually, I put some blush on because I was told I was looking a “little bit pale,” and there may be photos taken of me during the birthday and Father’s day celebration. After shucking crabs, the rain finally let up. My mom had sent Josh to the “store” and he was gone for a good half hour. My best friend, Emilie, who grew up down the street from me, then called me and said I needed to come down to the neighbor pier where I grew up for a “scavenger hunt” in order to get my birthday present from her.
I didn’t think anything of it, as Emilie always makes me “work” for my birthday presents. Again, I am wearing a large t-shirt, leggings and wearing no shoes. As I make it down the hill, I see Emilie. When she looked at me (practically already in tears) I knew what was happening. I then see vases hanging with sunflowers in each one at the beginning of the pier. Then I notice 50 plus lit candle votives lining the pier and Josh standing at the end on a blanket in front of a cotton candy sunset–the one you only see after a day of storms.
Later, I learned the blanket was my dad’s idea so he didn’t drop the ring in the water (good thinking dad!). The rest is a blur. I was in such shock and completely surprised by the engagement. After he proposed, he said “Hey, look two piers down.”
My uncle and sister were hiding capturing the entire moment, and I see Emilie wiping away her tears at the beginning of the pier.
Shortly after, my parents and his mother walk down to the pier. They had known all along, and somehow my parents kept in a secret since December. I may not have been looking my Sunday best, and hardly had any makeup on, but I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Our t-shirts even matched the colors of the sunset. Josh included my entire family, and that just shows me how lucky I really am. I wouldn’t want to be proposed to anywhere else but that pier. I have countless memories there, and it really is home. It’s amazing how things come full circle in life. We are now planning an October 13, 2018 waterfront wedding.
