We met when Pearson transferred to West Florence High School during our sophomore year. We had AP European History together, which is where our friendship started! We used to write notes in each other's school agendas and Pearson desperately tried to teach me football plays. He was my "football buddy" for cheerleading, and I made him goody bags and good luck notes for every home game. We took most of the same classes in high school and enjoyed the friendly competition between each other. We became best buds, always in the same prom group or at the same birthday parties, and we stayed close when we went off to college! Although he was at Wofford and I was at Clemson, we stayed in touch and finally got past the friend zone in December of 2016.

Since we have been long-distance since 2016, we always plan ahead the next time we are going to see each other and what we're going to do. Pearson suggested going on a picnic during my weekend visit to Columbia, and I didn't think much of it because it was something we had done before! We packed a homemade muffuletta sandwich, Zapp's potato chips, and stopped for Sonic slushies on the way. We found a perfect spot in a neighborhood park with no one around. He set up his phone on top of the cooler "to take some self timer pictures" but he was actually recording a video of us. Distracting me by claiming to see a deer, I turned my head, and the next thing I knew he was down on one knee! After happily saying yes and snapping some actual self timer pictures, we enjoyed our picnic food as an engaged couple!