In the Spring of 2008, Drew and I reconnected (again) because of Carolina Cross Connection. He was preparing to return to staff and I was prepping to help with staff training.
I remember when we arrived at Camp Loy White that May. We spent most of our free times together and I don't think either one of us thought anything about it. That continued throughout the summer. Drew would work for 10 days straight (Wednesday through the following Sunday) and he had a 3 day break every 10 days. Those breaks were spent in Charlotte with me. We would hang out and just have a good time.
I remember one night of his pre camp I took his staff dinner. As I left, I called my mom. Something I said to her on the way home triggered her to say "so I think you're falling for Drew". I denied it but then started to think maybe I was.
A couple weeks later I went to visit his camp during a camp week. One of our adult campers from the previous year was his camper again. I spent some time with her during my visit and within a few minutes she said "how long have you and Drew been dating?" I just smiled and walked away.
Before the final camp week, my roommate (Catherine) and I hosted a gathering for a lot of staff people in the Charlotte area. I made these fancy chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese in the center that my friend Stephanie makes. To say they didn't turn out is being nice. I don't know what I did wrong. But my sweet Drew picked up a cupcake and ate an entire one! That's when I knew I knew the feeling was mutual.
Our first date was the first Wednesday in August of 2008. It was simple and interesting- but that's another blog post. Our second date was two days later. We ate Chinese food with his Mom and brother, Noah. We left the following morning for a beach trip with our friends from our 2007 JYC staff. Half way through our week at the beach, Drew returned to school as junior and so began our long distance relationship.
We spent so many hours on that phone that year. I wish I had a rough estimate. But I would say on average we were on the phone at least an hour a day everyday. We spent many of our weekends in Reidsville and Hickory with our families.
The following summer (2009), I felt called to move from Charlotte to Winston-Salem. With Drew's support, I made the move. We visited Winston-Salem that August and one of the first places we visited was Pilot Mountain....
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| A picture I took on our first visit to Pilot Mountain. |
On November 10, 2009 Drew proposed to me on the top of Pilot Mountain in the middle of a hurricane. My Mom and sweet friend Stephanie were in on the surprise. My sweet Drew waited for me over an hour on the top of the mountain in the pouring rain.
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| Taken seconds after he proposed- that mascara didn't hold up well |
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| Engagement celebratory dinner |
The December after we were engaged, we spent a long weekend in Hickory. That is one of my favorite Setliff memories. Drew was in his senior year at Liberty and had come home for winter break. I went to visit and we got snowed in! I mean snowed in! We spent the entire weekend in the house. It is such a sweet memory to me. The weekend was filled with lots of laughter, sledding, snow man building, and of course delicious food.
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| 4 of the 5 Setliff brothers as well as Drew's childhood best friend, Ross and some of his sisters |
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| Standing on top of a bush- don't know why we thought that was a good idea. Bush never recovered... |
To be continued...
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