While school closures piled up, I finally got excited about wedding planning. Mom couldn't come dress shopping due to surgery, but Angel brought champagne and we Skyped her in. Then Charming and I collected nine stamps at the OBX expo and actually won the honeymoon drawing—after I'd just told him I never win anything.
Relationships
Wedding Planning at Dunkin’—Two Divorced People Making #ANewThing
Hampton's snow trapped us for days, but at Dunkin' with Charming, we got stuck in wedding details. Two Type A Wheaton grads who've done this before, arguing over songs to avoid. Then we created #ANewThing—because that's what happens when God writes redemption stories with snow days and second chances.
Stuck in the Attic: When Depression Crashed My Christmas Engagement
Getting trapped in my attic while looking for Christmas boxes became the perfect metaphor for the depression I'd been hiding from my fiancé. Sometimes asking for help is the only way down.
Ice Skating at the National Gallery Taught Me I’ve Been Bracing for Falls My Whole Life
Charming and I skated The Mall in D.C., but I kept tensing for the fall that never came. After 15 years of fierce independence, I decorate Christmas trees alone and skate like I live—bracing for impact. Maybe learning to trust a teammate is just another grammar rule worth breaking.
Duck Beach Dreams: When Childhood Expectations Meet Marriage Reality
At the Outer Banks beach house where Charming vacationed as a child, I realized I'd been planning my future children's lives based on my own childhood. Sometimes home isn't a place—it's a person.
Living with ADHD While Planning a Wedding: Why I Can’t Focus
Save the Date cards sit unfinished while my mind jumps between yearbook deadlines and Charming's need for attention. Sometimes being newly diagnosed with ADHD explains everything—and complicates everything else.
From Fort Monroe Beach to Duck Methodist Church: Finding Our Perfect Wedding
Charming proposed again with my real ring on a pier in the Outer Banks, then we found the white church with a steeple I'd dreamed of since childhood. Sometimes God writes fairy tale endings in the most perfect settings.
Surviving Hurricane Season: When Teaching and Wedding Planning Collide
Engaged to my dream man but drowning in Homecoming prep and yearbook deadlines. Sometimes life's best stories require weathering multiple storms at once.
Why I Stopped Waiting for My Life to Begin: Lessons from an Engagement
When you realize you want to spend forever with someone, you want forever to start now. But what if the waiting room is actually part of the gift?
The Fort Monroe Beach Proposal: When Prince Charming Finally Gets Down on One Knee
After two years of waiting and wondering, Charming surprised me with a fairy tale proposal at my favorite beach. Here's the story of glass slippers, horse-drawn carriages, and finally getting my happily ever after.
Writer's Growth 