Our happily ever after started in high school gym class. The spring semester of 2009,
both Taylor and I signed up for softball. Since Vermont weather is rather unpredictable, our first few games were played on a muddy field. Up to bat, I hit the ball and made it safely to first base. This tall, lanky boy who was positioned at 1st turns to me and says, “are you going to take your shoes off?” Being that it was the first time we’d ever met, I was surprised by comment. I replied, “eww no, I don’t want to run around in bare feet!” After one run around the field, many of us, including Taylor and myself, decided that running bare foot in mud is much easier than with shoes on.*
After class, we headed to the Collins-Perley Sports Complex to wash off the mud, change clothes, and go back to school. We load up on the bus, and that tall, lanky kid wasn’t sitting with anyone – so I decided to sit next to him**. He turns to me and says, “My name is Taylor, would you like to go to prom with me?” Speechless that he asked me in front of the whole gym class***, I said of course said yes. The next few weeks we got to know each other better, went to prom, and decided to start seeing each other. That spring, Taylor graduated from high school and left for college in the fall. Being at two different places in our lives, the relationship temporarily fizzled out. The following spring in 2010, Taylor came back into my life wanting to pursue a relationship. July 2nd of that year he asked me to be his girlfriend. We have been inseparable ever since.
In 2015, I graduated from nursing school. Instead of pursuing a job in Vermont, we decided to pack up and move to Greenville, North Carolina, where I got my first nursing job at Vidant Medical Center. Taylor has a job working in part sales for Gregory Poole lift systems. We’ve spent our time in North Carolina at the beach, traveling to new places, visiting family and friends, and enjoying adulthood. December of 2016, we traveled home to Vermont to visit our families for Christmas. On the 24th , we went to my grandparents’ house for our usual Christmas celebrations. Little did I know, the big box that Taylor had been keeping under our tree had a ring in it. Nervous and excited, Taylor proposed to me in front of my family that evening with a gorgeous ring from a Robinson Jewelers, a local store in Greenville. We happily set our wedding date for August 19th , 2017. We will celebrate seven years together this summer.
* “Wrong – I just didn’t want to get my shoes muddy for the rest of the school day.” – Taylor
** “That was my plan.” – Taylor
*** “It was a loud bus, it wasn’t like everyone was waiting for her answer like a 1950s musical.” – Taylor
