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Our Story
How We Met
If You Ask Bethany:
Our Story started freshman year at college, where we were introduced by a mutual friend over bowls of ice cream and hot fudge. We quickly hit it off and became best friends. Sophomore year, two weeks before classes ended and we were meant to return to our home states of Delaware and Massachusetts, I finally admitted to Grayson my feelings had grown beyond friendship. Despite not believing me initially, he told me he had feelings for me for a while but thought he didn't have a chance.
After the admission came quick, onset panic. I was not only leaving for Delaware, but my following semester would be in Scotland. Long distance immediately after starting a relationship was scary, and I confided all this in Grayson. Ever the romantic, he proposed a two week "no-strings attached" trial run, to see if we believed the relationship could really last the distance. Sure enough, after two weeks, I broke up with him.
Don't stop reading now! This breakup was perhaps the most crucial part of our relationship because it made me realize how much I actually did not want to break up. I made it no more than 24 hours before texting him, asking to not just get back together but to do it the right way. Sure enough, we spent 9 months taking trains or making international phone calls, him sending flowers and me waking up at 4 AM to wish him goodnight (Scotland is a 5-hour time difference!). When we finally reunited in January, nothing would ever separate us again.
If You Ask Grayson:
Picture this, you open Facebook to find a new notification in your college's freshman page, a girl posts a picture of her trying to leave her house for college - the catch? Her mom is dragging on the ground behind her clinging to her feet. You laugh, look at all the reactions to the post and think to yourself, "this girl is going to be way too popular for me to meet" and promptly scroll to the next post.
Fast forward a few weeks, and a friend brings that same girl over to your lunch table in the dining hall. The two of you immediately click. Ironically, when sharing classes you find out she's also in your freshman seminar, you sit together and spend the rest of the semester joking, complaining about the professor, and genuinely growing closer.
Over the next two years, that girl you thought was way too cool for you turns into your best friend, you share everything with her, spend days and nights hanging out with her, and suddenly you realize wanting to spend all of your free time with her might mean more than you thought. One late night in her dorm room, she admits she has a secret. After pushing for what felt like forever, she finally admits it - she has feelings for you. Suddenly your heart is racing, and what you thought was impossible has become reality. She's got to be lying right? Wrong. Your best friend and dream girl has a crush on you, might as well buy a lottery ticket because you're the luckiest guy in the world.
But here's the catch - she doesn't want long distance. It's 2 weeks before the end of the year and you live 9 hours apart, not to mention the worst part, she's studying abroad in Scotland in the Fall. What would only be a short 3-month stint of long distance in the same time zone has now become 8 months and feeling like you're a world apart. But - and maybe for the first time in your life - you're cocky enough to go for it. Maybe it's that lucky feeling or maybe it's just taking the leap of faith, but you make her an offer she can't refuse. 2 weeks, give me 2 weeks to make you fall in love with me. No strings attached. If you wake up at the end of those 2 weeks and don't want to be with me, fine. We go back to being friends - no harm done. We won't even tell our friends.
For the next two weeks you go on dates, sneak around (convince all but one of your friends that she's dating some mystery man), and totally and completely fall in love with her. And she even falls in love with you. That is, until the 2 weeks ends, and she breaks up with you. That's right ladies and gentlemen, the truth is out on the wedding website - she dumped me. For about 24 hours (can't resist the charm).
In those 24 hours she changed her mind, and we settled on long distance. The summer felt long, but Scotland felt like forever. Late night calls for hours, facetiming dates, letters, a quintessential long-distance relationship. And after what felt like forever, she came back. As if we were never separated, we picked up where we left off. And a few months after reuniting, she even convinced me to get a kitten. February 2020 we adopted our (unknown to us at the time) Covid kitten, Peppermint. We spent the height of Covid bunkered down with our crazy cat, spent our summer working hourly jobs living in a 2-bedroom house in Burlington with our now officiant, Becca. Senior year was full of remote classes, making the most of the weekends, and working part time until graduation hit.
After college we moved into our apartment in Colchester, where we've been settled for 3 years now. In 2023, I decided to finally take the leap and propose.
The Proposal
We could start this story with the conversation Grayson had with his dad about taking the leap, or the conversation he had with his mom where she said "She is too smart, she will figure it out;" we could start with the phone call to Zimmerman Jewelers asking about a ring, or a Facetime with Bethany's parents asking permission. We could even start this story with Bethany joking at Christmas dinner about wanting a ring on her finger (the ring was upstairs), but we won't.
Instead, we will jump to Cape Henlopen on a winter's sunset. After claiming to stop at the beach to look at a local sand sculpture, Grayson led Bethany down to the beach while her parents lagged behind to "grab something from the trunk." He walked her down the beach, stopping halfway to appreciate the view and slip a note into her pocket. After walking a few more steps, he finally spun her toward him, got down on one knee, pulled out the ring box, and told her to check her pockets. After frantically checking while yelling "What pocket?", she finally pulled out the note and unfolded it. Inside, handwritten, said "Will You Marry Me?"
Without even saying yes, she took the ring and put it on her own finger. The rest is history.