Join us October 5th at 3 pm!

We met at our friend, Ryan's, high school graduation party. I (Kathryn) was running late and super embarrassed to be walking into a house full of people I didn't entirely know, so I texted my friend Kate to come get the door. She told me that she would only get the door if I rang the doorbell...little did I know that their doorbell would set off everyone's phones, show on the TV, and disrupt everything! Now that my presence was known to everyone, Kate opened the door and walked me towards the kitchen where I somehow missed Chandler whisper "wow" under his breath as he saw me for the first time, but Kate heard it and proceeded to open a conversation about how I was getting ready to move away to Auburn, AL. We honestly didn't talk much that first day, but I knew it was a relationship I had to pursue, even if we just became good friends...and that's when the talking began.

To set the scene, our first kiss was at 2 a.m. standing outside Chandler's college apartment building. So the full story is around midnight, Chandler was walking Kate, Cassidy, and me to our cars. Kate and Cassidy left first in Kate's car and I was supposed to be leaving in my car to meet them for a sleepover. Highlight "supposed to". Well, Chandler walked me over to my car and we got to talking like we usually do. We talked for two hours, which honestly felt like 20 minutes. Despite the appearance it gives, we are notorious for staying up way too late just talking. I mentioned how I should really go and join my friends since it had gotten so late, and I felt bad for being rude. That's when Chandler kissed my cheek, and then asked if that was okay. When I responded that it was, he pulled me in for a very sweet and gentle first kiss. Needless to say, I went to the sleepover on cloud nine and woke up my friends who were already anticipating this story.

Chandler and I had this date planned for about a month so we were both really excited about it, especially since our schedules don't allow for many dates. We had planned to go on a picnic before the weather got too cold. We agreed Chandler would pick me up that evening and we would go to a nearby park for our date. On our way there, I knew something was up when he made a turn in the opposite direction from the park we had planned on going to. I thought he had decided to go to a different park that we had discussed, but then he passed that one too. The only other place down that road that I knew was the Crosby Farm and as we approached, Chandler instructed me to close my eyes lest I ruin the surprise. And before I forget, I badgered him the whole 15 minutes it took to get to our destination from his "wrong turn." Even with my eyes closed, I recognized the dirt road leading up to the property. Once parked, he helped me out of the truck with my eyes still closed and guided me to my designated spot. When I was allowed to open my eyes, I saw he had wrapped a large tree in twinkle lights and it was beautiful! He asked me to dance under the tree with him before we got to setting up our picnic, so we danced and talked and I remained paranoid about my suspicion of him proposing. That is, until he backed away and pulled a ring box out of the picnic blanket, and was on one knee. After he asked me to marry him, I tried to say "yes" but I couldn't get any words out so I nodded until my voice caught up with me. He then admitted that he never actually made dinner for our picnic but instead had reservations at our favorite restaurant for us. I don't think we will ever forget that night.

Conversations are the beginning of any kind of relationship. We are no exception. The second we met each other, it was difficult to get us to stop talking, ever. We talked so much about anything and everything, it often got us into trouble by staying out too late whenever we would hang out. Typically one of us would call it around 2 a.m. when it was time to say goodnight. This habit formed before we started dating but was easily retained as a new couple dating long-distance. These long, but never long enough, conversations have always been with us and have provided a way for love, support, understanding, and laughter to grow during times when it was more difficult. These late-night talks have seen us through both our best and worst days, from getting to know each other to getting through our hardest times, from arguments that can't be let go until there is a resolution to uncontrollable laughter. So I'm sorry Mom and Dad for how it looked, but we were just talking.