Everett and Emily met in 2020 on a random Thursday evening in the most organic way. After separately discovering a Facebook meetup group called “Skate Nashville” that met at a park across from downtown, both attended their first roller skating night on Sept 3, 2020. The group met in a Nissan Stadium parking lot (located across from the Bridge Building), skated around the stadium and ended at a makeshift outdoor “rink” under Korean Veterans Bridge. For those of you that do not know, Emily was a competitive figure skater growing up… so let’s just say she may have been showing off a bit, skating effortlessly around the lot, doing turns and skating backwards. This caught Everett’s eye, so he decided to stop Emily and asked her if she could show him how to turn backwards. They continued to talk and skate around, reminiscent of old skating rink nights from their youth, but to Emily’s surprise Everett did not ask for her phone number. So she boldly found him on Facebook later that week and sent him a “friend request.” Everett saw this request and realized who she was and sent her a message for a casual date before the next skate night. They quickly fell (sometimes literally) for each other, and the rest is history!

Some of you may know, but Everett has always loved rocks and has taken an interest in crystals. After finding out that a famous quartz mine in Arkansas was in the direct path for the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, he couldn’t think of a more memorable, magical place to ask Emily to marry him. They packed up the car, drove six hours, and made camp at the little festival the mine was hosting for the event. The first day was filled with fun (to Emily’s surprise), digging for hours and finding many quartz crystals. The most special piece was shaped like a heart, giving Everett the last sign he needed to take the leap. On the day of the eclipse, Emily recalls Everett was acting a bit strange. They picked a perfect spot at the top of the mine, with a perfect 360 view, for the eclipse. The sky grew dark as they experienced totality and soaked up the memorable experience. But Everett made it even more memorable by getting down on one knee (and scraping it on a rock!) as the sun reappeared. They cried and hugged as “Total Eclipse of the Heart” played over the PA system and Emily, of course, said yes.