Thank you for being along for the ride of our lives!

April 16, 2016. The day I “met” Olivia. I say that with quotations because we met before at Phillips swim club but neither one of us remember really. My best man, Alex and I went up to a Clifton house party to day drink and do our normal thing. We’ve always been a couple of clowns getting into whatever trouble we could. We were in the house and I’m sure I was acting like a fool probably trying to make Olivia laugh because she caught my eye as soon as we got to the party. The night went on and I ended up telling Gramke that I really thought Olivia was gorgeous. He down-played it of course. The next weekend Alex and I decided to go to Miami Oxford to do some more partying. He drove and picked me up and said we had to get someone else but wouldn’t tell me who it was. He laughed and laughed saying "you’ll see when we get there". I was playing with the music and didn’t think much of it. We then parked in front of a house that I’d never been to. Out walks Olivia. I’ve never felt so many emotions all at once. I was very excited to see her but mad at Gramke for not telling me and embarrassed/awkward as well. We made it to Oxford and were having a great day... I remember trying my hardest to make Olivia laugh like I always do when I feel awkward. Somehow it worked and she took me up on my offer to walk to Subway. We really began to talk and I tried to get to know her on our walk. Eventually I asked her for her number and from there we began seeing each other more often. I took Olivia on our first date to a reds game and eventually asked her to be my girlfriend. Since then we have made a ton of memories together. From trips alone to trips with family and friends, to buying a home, getting our dog Boone, and experiencing our lives together. She truly is the love of my life. Olivia and I have very close families and are lucky to feel so loved by each other's loved ones. I knew I wanted to officially make Olivia a part of my family and planned my proposal for December 23rd 2021. I had been planning out a proposal for a while before this, but ya know, things don't always go as planned! Thankfully, my mom and sister were finally able to help me make my plan come to life. They are always planning family outings in December so that my nieces and nephew can make fun memories around the holidays. I knew Olivia would believe it if Sarah asked her to go to a light show because we go to about 4 per Christmas. I asked Sarah to send a group text to invite Olivia and I to Lumaze in the Duke Energy Convention Center. Everyone except Olivia knew what was really happening, but of course she said yes because she enjoys doing these things with my nieces and nephew. We got to the Lumaze and started going through. I knew there was a lit up heart at the end of the maze and told our families that this is where I was going to do it. When it came time, I got on one knee. I was so nervous, I couldn't get any words out except "I love you, will you Marry me?". She said yes! Thank god. Her family was hiding and came out to surprise her. We both were so excited. We celebrated with friends and family at Patrick's Sports Bar afterwards! We truly felt so loved. We are both very excited to start this next chapter in our lives and can’t wait for the big day on 9/9/22.