Me and my wife Amy have been married since May 1, 2010. We currently live in Belmont, NC with our son Holden, and our crazy dog Lola. Amy works for Mecklenburg County's early childhood program. She received her undergrad degree from UNCW, and her masters from UNCG. I attended ASU for a brief period before I decided to drop out, and do some traveling. I now at the age of 35, have decided to go back and finish school. I'm currently in the architectural program at CPCC, and looking to transfer next fall to UNCC. Once I finish at UNCC, we discussed moving out west for a while. We both love the state of NC, but we still have that desire to take off somewhere and try something new for a bit. Our dream though, is to come back to NC once we retire and live at the beach. My wife's family has a house at Sunset Beach in NC, and she has grown up going every year. We have always argued over whether we would retire at the beach or the mountains, and I'm guessing you know who won that argument. Anyways, I'm so happy to have met my wife. It's a long story about how we got to where we are now, but I'll at least give you the short version. Me and Amy's brother Matt worked together in Banner Elk, NC at a little snowboard shop called Edge of the World. Now I did not meet Amy during this time, this is just how I got to know her brother, who would eventually introduce me to my future wife. Me and Matt became great friends while living Boone, NC. We worked together as rafting and climbing guides, and lived together along with several other roommates for 2 years. Eventually, Matt moved off to San Francisco with his now wife Margaret, and I left to go live in Burlington, VT. Matt called me one day to tell me he proposed to Margaret and they were getting married in Asheville, NC. During the time between that phone call and the wedding, I have left VT and have been traveling, but was definitely planning on returning to NC for the wedding. Matt and Margaret's wedding day had finally come, and I arrived in NC a week before to offer to help Matt in any way I could. Now I knew from Matt always talking about her, that Matt had a sister. I really didn't think much about it though, until I saw her for the first time that week before the wedding. We met and really hit it off. We spent a good bit of the week together, and she even invited me to the rehearsal dinner as her date. We had an incredible time together, but Sunday soon came around and we had to go our separate ways. I was flying to Europe with 2 friends for 3 months that monday, and Amy was going to Costa Rica on a mission trip. We exchanged contact information, and promised we would keep in touch. While in Europe I thought of her a lot. I emailed, sent postcards, and even called her several times. I just knew this was the girl for me, and i was not going to let her slip away. I even cut my trip short and purchased a standby ticket out of Barcelona. All flights to NC were full, and the only place they could get me to that day was NY. I had no problem flying into NY, I had 4 of my best friends living there at the time, and just thought it would give me a couple of days to catch up with them. When I arrived, the first thing I did was call Amy, but this time she seemed a little distant, even perturbed. She questioned our relationship, and wondered what it was we were even doing. She told me not to hurry back to NC. That she just got into UNCG, where she was going to get her masters in early childhood education. I was devastated! I stayed in NY, trying to find a job, and lived with my buddy Josh until I could figure things out. Finally, one day in late June, Amy called me to see how I was doing. She told me about her move to Greensboro, and how she was getting ready to head down to the beach with her family for a week. Without even thinking, I asked if I could come down and see her. I remember her saying, "really, you want to come to the beach with me and my family?" I thought about it, and just out of nowhere, said "yes." I went straight to the airport that night. I bought a standby ticket and waited all through the night, until finally I got on a flight that next morning into Charlotte. When I arrived in Charlotte, I rented a car and started on my way to Sunset Beach. I called her brother Matt to get directions from him. I think she knew I was coming, but she didn't know exactly when. I called Matt because I wanted my arrival to be a bit of a surprise. I remember driving through all the farmland of eastern NC with my arm out the window, and just how happy I was to be back in NC. I also remember how scared, excited, and happy I was to get to see Amy again. To cut things short, that decision to make the trip to the beach to see Amy was the best decision I have ever made. Years later we got married in Wilmington, NC. We continue to travel, and still go to Sunset Beach every summer. We just had our first child in March, and couldn't be happier. Who knows what our future holds, but we are extremely excited to find out.
