We're getting married!!

Our journey began with both of us being ready for something real to form, one of those intriguing moments of destiny that only reveal their significance in time. We had known of each other from a distance, but it wasn't until many years had passed since high school that we truly understood the profound connection we shared. It was during the COVID 2020 shutdown that we found ourselves reconnecting. The initial rekindling of our friendship gradually evolved into something more as we spent more time together. Our shared passion for sports and our ability to make each other laugh to the point of tears brought us closer. We spent many nights at Revelry Tavern drinking too much Double Cross Vodka and acting like we were just having fun and neither of us acknowledging that we started to have feelings for each other. We are both very protective of our friend groups so we kept everything a secret until we could not any longer. One night I invited my friends out to meet us together which was a great turnout as they had already known Ashley from the past. When Ashley dropped her guard down with her friends, she invited me to a bonfire to meet them for the first time which sounds great, but sadly Tyler, Jack and I had already been out for about 3 hours prior so I had just enough sense that meeting her friends was an awesome first step in breaking through but not enough sense to realize that I had already had a little too much fun. I decided I still would go and meet Kristen and Adam who are extremely special people to Ashley, sadly I spent most of my time trying to not fall into the fire. I woke up the next morning and told myself that would be the last time I would embarrass myself in front of Ashley....... I still have not quite figured out how to do that but I'm working on it. Before we knew it, the days we spent apart grew fewer and farther between. It became abundantly clear that we were meant to be together, and we couldn't imagine our lives without each other by our sides. When our jobs informed us that we needed to make the decision on whether we would relocate to Atlanta, GA, this decision brought both fear and excitement about our future, but we knew we could do anything together. We are stronger than ever and more in love than I could have ever imagined.

I knew that I had to spend the rest of my life with this woman, I had to make a commitment more important than anything else in my short 30 years of life. I told her we should go look at rings so when the time came, I would know what to get her, but prefaced it with we needed to focus on our move to Atlanta and both our new roles but in reality, I knew I was going to propose as soon as I could. So, on March 11th, 2023, the day before we were set to start our drive from Columbus, OH to Atlanta, GA to start our next journey I had set up a going away party for us, or that is what she thought. I had everyone from my boss to my grandparents and all our closest friends in the loop about what was going on. I had it planned out perfect; I would take Ashley to her favorite restaurant, Kitchen Social, and then when the sun was going to set, I would walk her out to the bridge because we needed to "say goodbye to Ohio". If you know Ashley, she has the attention span of a golden retriever, so meals take a long time to complete. I told her the sun was going to set at 8:36PM so we needed to give ourselves time to walk. After a delicious meal and a couple of courage cocktails for me I was ready for the bill, unfortunately the server asked if we wanted dessert which I gave a quick response of "No!" which Ashley disagreed with and demanded a dessert to go. With the clock still moving and the sun dropping I was in panic mode. I told the server that I needed that dessert immediately and Ashley was drinking so slow I had to help her with that also. Once I got her on the move, I texted Ryan Armstrong who had a couple of our friends together along with the ring to meet me on the bridge. With a butter cake and a happy Ashley in hand and a big question coming up I was getting nervous but excited! I saw Ryan, no turning back now, so I took the dessert and asked Ryan if we could trade, my ring for Ashley's dessert. One issue here was instead of Ashley realizing I had a ring box in my hand Ashley was so focused on the dessert that was no longer in her possession. I was trying to drop to a knee but Ashley pulling me like our dog Duncan chasing squirrels was making it a little difficult. Eventually I grabbed Ashley by both of her hands and said, "Ashley, I love you so much." she responded in shock and said, " Oh my god, is this happening!!" I got down on one knee and poured my heart out, or at least that is what I think I did because Ashley couldn't stop crying and talking over me. It was the organized chaos that we live our lives in each day, and it maybe wouldn't be viewed as perfect for others, but man is it a great memory for me!