Sharayah, Heath and I sat in a sea of chemistry and communications notes in a study room discussing how much we did not want to be studying. Productivity was nonexistent. Sharayah kept talking about how much she wanted to be at the beach for the weekend with her family, especially because her sister's boyfriend was proposing on Sunday.
Then she had the bright idea of a road trip.
We were reluctant. Twenty-two hours in the car and 20 hours at the beach over a 42 hour period? If you've been in Kentucky over the past week, you know it's been frigid. Running in the ocean on a warm sunny beach was a very tempting offer. Heath and I both fell into the temptation and agreed to go.
We left in the late afternoon on Saturday and arrived at Holden Beach, NC at 2 A.M. Sunday morning. It was late, we were tired, but too excited to not splash into the ocean.
Sharayah's family is amazing. Not only did they fund the entire trip, but they're just so much fun to be around. We woke up Sunday ready to hit the water, but not before we ate delicious homemade chocolate chip pumpkin bread and sang hymns during breakfast.
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| Photo taken by Sharayah's mom |
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| The Travelers |
After breakfast we headed out to the beach to play volleyball, body board and throw the football around. There were lots of face plants and diving into the water, mostly by me, but others looked ridiculous as well.
Throughout the entire day it was VERY difficult to keep the proposal a secret. I was just too excited. I've known Sharayah's sister Whitney and her fiance Tyler since freshman year. They've been dating for about three years and it's that time of year and life where every other friend is getting engaged, so we were all expecting it to happen sometime soon. Heath, Sharayah, her parents and I were the only ones that knew it was happening that day.
Tyler told Whitney that he wasn't able to come to the beach, because of practice and school. There were many other lies told so she wouldn't see it coming, but it was all in the name of love. We told everyone else that we were going to take pictures on the beach before dinner so we got everyone to dress up.
I was given the daunting task of taking pictures of it all. I was honored, but very nervous. Thankfully the pictures turned out great and tell the story better than I can.
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| Note the small blue dot to the left. That's Tyler |
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| Still clueless |
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| She was shocked |
As you could probably guess, she said yes and the ring is gorgeous. Good job Tyler.
The whole thing worked out perfectly and although we were exhausted returning to campus at 8 A.M. Monday morning, it was worth it.
