Our journey began in a small classroom of about 100 students at Auburn University’s Lowder Building of Business…
JD, the graduate teaching assistant for my [Whitney] Management class, walked into Room #19 to pass out quizzes. As soon as class was dismissed, I immediately called my five closest friends and said, “Wow. I have just seen the most attractive man I've ever seen in my life.” A few weeks later, I was sitting in Cambridge Coffee talking with friends, Laura Oliver and Brandon Eidson. All of the sudden, a fluffy-headed hunk of meat pulled out the chair at Brandon’s table and sat down. He looked over at my Mac and saw Facebook open on my desktop. “Hey. Nice profile pic,” said the guy with the Pac-man shirt on. (He was talking about the photo below - my brother is an amazing photographer...)
I giggled and said, “Well, I’ll add you as a friend so you can look at it anytime you want.”
A few days later, JD walked into the classroom again to pass out another quiz. I, of course, bashfully said shouted, “Hey JD!” from the middle of the 100-student classroom. He smiled back with a “hey Whitney” and waved. My professor handed me the quiz and whispered, “How do you know him? You have my approval! He is such an intelligent and well-mannered gentleman… and so handsome!” I giggled as the professor walked away. Weeks went by as we passed in small conversations at Cambridge (I obviously didn't plan these "happenstances), and JD continually challenged me to a game of Tic-Tac-Toe. The Thursday before Chase [my brother] proposed to Jackie in late April, we finally played the game… JD dominated the game, but I dominated his heart. (Yeah. We love cheesy lines.)
Final exams arrived. I stayed in Auburn but JD departed from the loveliest village on the plains to spend a few weeks with his family, only to come back for five days to complete his certifications for his master’s degree. Our first date was exactly one year from our wedding day {May 29, 2009}. We went to see the movie Up, cooked dinner with each other and laughed uncontrollably – nothing short from what our relationship is now. Four months after our first date, he proposed… and the rest is history.
