I first met Megan on September 10th, 2016 at Windy Gap, a YoungLife camp in the mountains of North Carolina. While we talked briefly at a college retreat weekend, it wasn’t until a few weeks later that we started to get to know each other. Through the melding of two friend groups, Megan and I became friends from group hangouts, UNC soccer games, and Friday night volleyball matches with our friends. During our fall semester, Megan and I became closer and began to spend more and more time together. In an effort to spend more intentional time with Megan, I convinced her that her dorm had the best study rooms on campus, so she needed to let me come study with her, and that was how I learned I could easily spend time with Megan. As we began to spend more time together, friends began to ask us questions about our relationship status, but we both initially claimed to only be friends. It wasn’t until we returned from Christmas break in our Freshman year that I got the guts to ask Megan out on a date, and we officially started dating on January 27th of 2017. While trying to figure out what it looked like to date in college, we had a great community around us that supported us and pushed us to love the Lord and love each other better. Through summers apart and semesters together, Megan and I have been able to slowly grow in our love of the Lord and love for each other. We have seen Him change our hearts and grow us in ways we didn’t expect, and it has been so beautiful to be a part of. Whether it’s learning patience, humility, forgiveness, or grace, we learned so much in our time of dating. As we moved further into our relationship, we prayed over what the future had in store for us and agreed that we wanted to move towards marriage, and we had multiple different conversations about that as we moved into our senior year at UNC. Over Christmas break of our senior year, I was given permission and blessing from Megan’s parents to propose to her in the upcoming semester.

In January of 2020, I spoke with Megan’s parents to get their blessing to propose. They said yes, & then the planning began. Mrs. Teems and & I decided that March 22nd would be the best day for the proposal. Fast forward a few weeks- I have a ring, a plan, & begin to tell friends & family. In early March, my biggest concern was if it would rain on the day of our engagement. Instead, the world began to shut down because of COVID. I began to quickly realize that my initial plan was not going to happen. I spent hours on the phone, trying to figure out a plan that would be safe for everyone. We decided on small, separate family & friend gatherings, & realized it would make more sense to change to March 20th. I told Megan that we were going to Jordan Lake, a place we had been in the past for day trips & picnics. We walked around & picked a spot that seemed random, but I had picked it beforehand because our friend Jenny & Megan’s sister Emily were coming to take pictures. Once I had Megan seated, I told her that I had another birthday present for her. In the summer of 2018, Ben Rector, Megan’s favorite artist, released a song “I Will Always Be Yours.” Megan fell in love with it & told me she would love for it to be her first dance song if only it was slower. I saved that text message, & in February, I reached out to a friend of mine who made an acoustic version of the song- it's incredible. Once I explained all of this to Megan, I told her there were two things I needed for the gift to make sense - the song & a ring box I pulled from my bag. I asked Megan to stand up & made her some promises & told her the reasons why I wanted to marry her. I asked her if she would marry me & she said yes! We heard cheers & saw Emily & Jenny across the lake. We spent almost two hours together just getting to laugh about getting engaged during a pandemic & celebrated. We got to celebrate with our families & friends, & it was a perfect day. We cannot wait to celebrate with all of you!