We're getting MARRIED!

Dustin: The year was 2020. We met in Santa Monica on the beach during the height of the pandemic. Blythe was supposed to visit her family in Georgia, but her nephew was exposed to COVID (he's fine) forcing her to cancel the trip. By pure chance, two of her closest friends were making a trip from Seattle to Los Angeles and Blythe decided to tag along. We met on the sand near the Santa Monica Pier. I wasn't sure what to make of Blythe when I first saw her. Everyone was gathered around a patchwork of towels, coolers, and umbrellas...and there she was, standing while everyone else sat. Short - definitely. Loud - 100%. Beautiful - like nothing I'd seen before. "What's your favorite color?" she shouted. It was a pure and unadulterated non-sequitur. It felt like a kick to the balls. Her friends called her the "question master" for a reason, but I was just a random dude she was meeting for the first time. The only context I had about Blythe was that she was a friend of a friend of a friend, and in all likelihood...she would think I was obnoxious. That question was perhaps the most aggressive introduction in history. In the span of a single moment, I spent eons swirling around that interaction in my head: is she messing with me? Does she think I'm fat? Why the hell does this girl want to know my favorite color? Then it dawned on me, SHE WAS FLIRTING. It was abrupt, violent, and passionate FLIRTING. What happened next was a bit of a blur for me. The group laughed & drank. We must have drained 15 cans of Truly Lemonades. I blinked and before I knew it, I was walking into the water with Blythe - alone. We waded into the surf for a few minutes, our faces almost touching. Then I worked up the courage to ask HER a question. Boyish though it may have been, I still think it was a pretty "baller" move: "Can I kiss you?" There in the salty water is where we shared our first kiss. Our friends snickered and cheered from the beach, and I had no idea that moment would mark the rest of forever with my best friend.

Blythe: I did have an idea that a proposal was in the works, but I thought it would be during the holidays. Untraditionally, we went ring shopping and Dust was given a few options. During that time, he told the sales associate "no rush, just before the holidays". So when we went to Santa Barbara, CA just two short weeks later, I was completely in the dark. We were going to attend his fraternity brother's wedding near their alma mater UCSB- Go, Gauchos! It was a wonderful party and celebration Saturday night, but come Sunday morning, we still had a 12 mile long run in anticipation for our half marathon that was coming up in a few short weeks. I was a little hung over and feeling very vulnerable during the run. I had almost witnessed Dustin get hit by car, the heat was intense and the booze from the night before was not helping with my running endurance. Thankfully, Dust halted the long run at mile 10. I was trailing far behind, with tears in my eyes. He said "Lets take a walk on the beach. Put your legs in the water, it will make you feel better". He set up his phone to record a little video (and if you know Dust, this is a common occurrence with his brilliant/creative brain always filming clips for IG or social media). We walked to the waves, then he told me "Wave to the camera" and then followed that up by "We met on 'this' beach". THEN I knew something was off. My response was along the lines of "we did not meet on this beach, we met near Santa MONICA pier that's like two hours away, not Santa Barabara." And then I look over and Dustin is getting down on one knee and I blacked out, browned back in and started crying. Anyways, I said yes :) Looking back now, I think my favorite detail is that he had the ring in his fanny pack the entire time...