Lauren + byrne

In 2016, the first time I invited Lauren on my Marston family’s annual trip to Cape Cod, I took Lauren to one of my favorite places to watch the sunset, just a short walk from my grandparent’s home in Truro.  To anyone passing by, this unassuming spot appears to be nothing more than an empty lot, but, like most good things in life, there is more atop this empty lot that meets the eye.  Located through a thicket of bushes and up a seashell lined hill, this empty lot is an overgrown “For-Sale” property where the trees grow in ways that seamlessly frame the horizon overlooking little, sleepy Pamet Harbor.  That day on the empty lot in 2016, there were fading colors of the sunset perfectly illuminating the boats slowly swaying in the harbor as a dazzling display of soft orange and gold overtook the fading Cape Cod sky.  Lauren, a sucker for sunsets…and all things cheesy, immediately declared the empty lot to be “our spot”.

 

In the years to follow, no matter what was going on during the vacation, Lauren would see the sun setting and take off running for “our spot.”  I tended to always be in tow, chasing her up the hill while rolling my eyes.  Over the years, the empty lot began to have its fair share of drawbacks, such as feral mosquitos, snakey overgrowth, and “coywolf” sightings (a coyote mixed with a wolf, look it up).  However, none of these nuisances deterred Lauren to running up to “our spot” every night to watch the sunset.  Sometime over those years of chasing Lauren up to “our spot,” I had made up my mind that this is where I would someday propose.

 

I knew I wanted family to be a big part of our engagement, and so did Lauren.  So, I flew Lauren’s father, John, up to Cape Cod as surprise visitor.  Lauren may have been on to my trail when her father showed up to my family vacation.  For that reason, Lauren got very dressed up and ready to get engaged on our first night out to dinner.  However, no proposal occurred that night.  The next night, I planned a sunset cruise on a sail boat for the whole family to enjoy.  Again, Lauren got dressed up expecting me to drop to the knee on the boat, however, again, no engagement.  By this point, on the last day of John’s stay in Truro, Lauren had given up hope that the engagement would occur and figured I had other plans in mind.

 

The next night, John’s last night on vacation with us, we dressed simply-jeans and comfy clothes.  Lauren looked like her typical self, no makeup, and wind-dried hair.  We had a laid-back seafood cookout going on at my grandparent’s house.  All seemed casual, quite, and normal.  When the sunset was about to happen, I sheepishly asked Lauren to walk up with me to “our spot,” which came as a surprise to Lauren who usually has to beg me to run up there with her.  With my parents, siblings, a few of my cousins, and John Hogan following close behind, Lauren and I reached the overlook, “our spot.”  Earlier that day, I had set up a wooden pallet for us to both stand on and laid a rug (that I stole from the rental house next store to my grandparent’s) over the pallet.  With a flawless sunset that had to have been painted by Lauren’s mother from Heaven, I got down on one knee on that wooden pallet and proposed to Lauren overlooking a shimmering sunset at “our spot.”  Our families looked on and snapped pictures.  It was magic.

The surprise was a success as Lauren was completely caught off guard in an engagement that fit both of our personalities perfectly.  I had hid a cooler of champagne on top of the hill earlier and drinks were passed around to all.  To end the engagement on top of the hill, everyone took a turn teeing up and trying to drive a golf ball into the harbor below.  It was the perfect engagement for “us.”  Our spot will forever be “our spot”.

 

P.S.  If anyone wants to loan (with no intention of ever paying back) us the $$$ to buy “our spot”, we would be forever grateful!  It has been on the market for over ten years for the small sum of only a few million dollars.  Priceless!!!

Byrne & I met in Athens, Georgia-Go Dawgs-in the summer of 2011. We were both entering into our sophomore year of college, Byrne at UGA & I at Wake Forest. Our lives seemed to fit together like a puzzle from the start. Byrne from Tampa & I from Atlanta, we had an incredible cross-over of mutual friends from every walk of life. Many of Byrne's best high school friends were friends of mine at Wake, and I felt like all of my high school squad either knew of Byrne, had heard of him, or was his "brother" in Sigma Chi. Those initial summer nights in the Thens treated us well, but I must admit, only Byrne recalled our introduction at Moonshine...I'll blame it on the establishment's namesake. But, just like any good & decent millennial couple-in-the-making 4 years in advance, we have pics to prove it! Who knew this "Mountain Dog" was my missing puzzle piece...

As fate would have it, Byrne & I would meet again in December of 2015 at none other than a mutual friend's company holiday that turned into a Justin Bieber after-party. That night it was all eyes on the Biebs, but from that evening forward it was all eyes on the prize, my Bear. Byrne instantly received the stamp of approval from my people, who so conveniently doubled as his close-knit college crew. And while the verdict is still out on me, I do believe his friends gave him the good ole' Go Deacs!

From the beginning, it was "us." We started dating in a fury, even though neither of us wanted a relationship at the time. Byrne was considering a move from Atlanta & I had just moved back to attend Emory Law School. I guess now is a good time to say thanks for staying! From that first night we reconnected, we knew this was something special. Inseparable, goofy together, family focused, supportive of each other's goals, and full of love & lust for life-we have gone through all of life's trials & tribulations together. Hand in hand. I cannot wait to do forever with my best friend. I love "us." Let's Do This Bear! 10.17.2020.

Well, I guess that Lauren and my story all starts around our freshman/sophomore year in college (2011/2012) while I was at UGA and Lauren was at Wake Forest. Since UGA is a state school, many of Lauren’s high school friends attended UGA and were now becoming my close friends as well. As it turns out, Athens is a pretty fun place to visit on your weekends (or weekdays for the brave) and, in between semesters or before summer was over at Wake Forest, Lauren began frequenting the trip from Atlanta (where her parents live) to Athens. As fate would have it, one of my friend’s girlfriends invited Lauren to a pre-party with a bunch of her old high school friends and me. If you are meeting Lauren for the first time, she’s a hard character to forget. She is pretty, loud, blonde, opinionated, excited, and, most of all, fun to be around. She is truly one of a kind and I remembered meeting her several times vividly all those years ago. We even ended up in several pictures together. 

Fast forward about 4 years, and Lauren and I found ourselves in very different worlds as compared to those blissful college years. I was in Atlanta working a tough job with long hours, and Lauren has just transferred law schools from Villanova to Emory where she was struggling to assimilate. A mutual friend invited both Lauren and I to a Christmas party that also just so happened to be the location of a Justin Bieber after party (I swear I was only there for Christmas party). At the party, I immediately recognized Lauren from those early years in college, and I approached Lauren reminding her of all of our mutual friends and the times we had met in college. Quickly, I discovered that Lauren had NO IDEA who I was and what I was talking about. I think she even thought I was a creep, especially when I began showing her the Facebook photos that we were tagged in together all those years ago. Turns out it is much easier for the people at a party to remember the one guest who showed up as opposed to the guest remembering every person at the party... At least that is what I am going with. Glad I am just a memorable as Lauren…. 

As I said earlier, both Lauren and I were going through transitional periods in our lives. I was interviewing for new jobs in different cities to explore my horizons and Lauren was struggling to balance living at home, re-connecting with old friend groups, and transitioning to a new law school. Little did we know, on that fateful night at a Justin Bieber after party, we would both literally and figuratively stumble into each other’s lives. Neither of us were wanting or looking for a relationship, but for some unexplainable reason a connection kept drawing both of us together. The beginning of our relationship had this feeling of inevitability to it. As if the star had aligned and brought us together when we were both in a place of need for one another without even knowing it.   
 
As we began dating, the next year and a half was a whirlwind. I found a new job in Atlanta and Lauren brought a new happiness to my life. Meanwhile, Lauren graduated from law school and passed the bar exam with flying colors. This blissful time were marked by UGA tailgates, date nights, sporting events, surprise birthday parties, traveling, and spending time with family and friends. Through the connection we had found in each other, we discovered that we balanced each other well. Where one lacked and the other was strong and vice versa. Little did we know that we would need each other even more in the times to come. 
 
When Lauren’s Mother, Cheryl, was diagnosed with brain cancer, it would mark the hardest time in both my and Lauren’s life. In ways that we never imagined, we were both forced to grow up very fast. While Lauren did everything she possibly could (and more) to save her mother, I struggled to keep the shattered pieces of Lauren together. Together, we shouldered more responsibilities and put our lives on hold to focus on the moment. As the cancer reoccurred and began to progress further, we had some very difficult conversations. We did not have a crystal ball and could not see or predict the future, but we both knew we wanted Lauren’s Mother to be a part of our eventual engagement/marriage. When I realized that this was not going to be able to materialize, I got down next to Cheryl in her bed in the Hogan house and asked Cheryl if I could marry her daughter. Cheryl gathered her strength and told me a very simple answer, “no.” In her fog, Cheryl mistook my asking her blessing for a marriage one day as a request to rush a marriage right then while she was still with us. Being much clearer this time, I asked her if could have her blessing to one day ask her daughter to marry me. This time she was able to muster a smile and gave a nod in the affirmative. Cheryl passed away two days later. 
 
As Lauren grasped to try and find answers over the next few months, I struggled through my own internal battles. As we took a step back together and re-evaluated our lives, there was one thing that was constant that held true through everything, “us”. We both knew that there was no life that we wanted to have that did not involve the both of “us.” Every scenario that I could think of involved Lauren next to me and me next to Lauren as each other’s partners. We have experienced laughter and love together, pushed each other to be better versions of ourselves, suffered immeasurable pain, agonized through tragedy, and discovered the light and beauty of this world on the other side. I knew that she was the one that I was always looking for and that I would not be able to be whole without her. The best version of myself is when I am with Lauren. 

Life is not perfect, but it is a little closer to perfect every day I get to spend with Lauren. So I decided to make “us” official on 7.30.19.