Sam and chan are getting married!

Chandler and Sam grew up in the same hometown - their moms worked at the same elementary school & their houses were about two minutes down the street from one another. They grew up knowing of each other, attending the same tennis camp & riding the same bus, but because they were two years apart in age, didn't really interact. Enter high school. When Chan was a sophomore & Sam was a senior, they participated in Concert Choir together, where they got to get to know one another on a deeper level - they even became dance partners for the spring performance of Hairspray. Sam immediately knew Chandler was her perfect match, but he still needed some convincing. After a spring and half a summer of little dates, going to prom, & swimming in the Showalter pool, Chandler finally asked Sam to be his girlfriend on July 11, 2015 -- even though they both knew Sam's departure date for college was fast approaching. The two decided to stick it out & try long distance during Sam's first year of college at Virginia Tech. They used lunchtimes to Facetime, spent many weekends visiting one another, & lived for college breaks, when Sam would come home & they'd have nonstop time together. It was really hard & they missed each other constantly, but they made it work. The distance also taught them to cherish the time they had together & strengthened their communication with each other. When Chandler graduated, he decided to attend college at UVA, & so Sam and Chan spent the next two years driving back & forth from Blacksburg and Charlottesville. Once again, it was truly so hard. But throughout the tough times of long distance, Chandler always reassured Sam of what they were working toward & what the outcome would be if they could just get through this time of long distance: a long & happy life together. When Sam graduated, a job in Charlottesville fell into her lap & she took it happily while Chandler continued school. Long distance was over after four years! A year after Sam's move to Charlottesville, Sam & Chan got their first apartment together. Here, they cooked dinners each night, divided chores, & just soaked up the coolness of finally living together & seeing each other every day -- something they dreamed about every second they spent apart during long distance. In 2021, Sam's job took them to Richmond. They built a happy little life in the city, filled with friends, trying new foods, going to concerts, movies, & plays, playing tennis on local courts, & taking walks around their favorite neighborhood. In July of 2023 in Newport, Rhode Island, Chandler FINALLY!!! popped the question & rendered Sam, for the first time in her life, actually speechless. She said yes (of course) & they popped champagne & enjoyed a special dinner looking out over the ocean. They celebrated their eight-year anniversary shortly after & decided to get married the day after what will be their ten-year dating anniversary. Our life together has been filled with so much joy & we cherish all that we've gotten to experience together. We've traveled to Hawaii, San Francisco, the Caribbean, New York City, Nashville, parts of the Florida Coast, Las Vegas, New Orleans, & most recently, France -- not to mention quite a few stops at Disney World along the way. We've seen countless concerts, shared hundreds of roller coaster rides, collected movie stubs from our weekly theater visit, & successfully trained for & ran a half marathon together. We've spent quality time with each others' families in Waynesboro and in New Jersey and Connecticut. We skydived together, supported each other through new jobs & hobbies, commiserated over car troubles, survived a pandemic, & so much more. We've built a beautiful life & we're so excited to become each other's family, begin our marriage journey, & to keep cherishing the joy of spending the simple days together with all the adventures we get to have in between. Ten years later, our dream of becoming husband and wife is finally coming true.