Our story begins with a young curly headed freshman boy named Joel Hays, who bravely joined the sport of cross country. He met a senior on the team, Matt, and bonded with him over a shared love of Pokémon and other very nerdy and dorky things. Joel, the wee freshman, loved Matt and told this to his family many times. Now you may be thinking, who is this love story truly about? Sometimes I ask myself the same question. What started as a bromance turned into a way for Joel to be forever connected to Matt as a brother-in-law.
Memorial Hill, Treaty City XC meet, August 31st, 2019. It was a chilly day for racing, Matt's senior year and last race on his home course. Elise, a shy homeschooler, was very intimidated by the fast, dashing older man that her brother often joked he wanted to set her up with. She thought running for fun or a sport was completely insane, and thought anyone who agreed to do such a thing was also insane (I was not wrong). After the races concluded, Joel grabbed his sister's arm, dragged her up Memorial Hill to the Greenville XC tent, and made an introduction that will forever go down in history as the most awkward first impression, ever. "Matt, this is Elise. Elise, Matt. Say, hi Matt," commanded Joel. "Hi Matt..." replied Elise, turning red. "Hello," said Matt. Joel grinned proudly watching his two victims interact for the first time. "What are you trying to do Joel?" Asked Dalton Swank, clearly reading between the lines.
After this encounter, I almost killed Joel. He looked at it as a great success, ofcourse. Funny enough, I have to admit my brother was right. A few months later, we started hanging out in group settings. Matt was very shy, and I was clearly not. I held his hand before even admitting I liked him, he was scared to death. Somehow, I did not scare him off. Soon, in the YMCA parking lot in January of 2020, I admitted I liked him. We were about to leave and it was raining. Some of our friends had come with us to run at the Y, so I ran up to Matt, whispered, “I like you,” in his ear, and ran for dear life to my car. Keep in mind I was 17 years old and acting like a 7th grade girl for no reason. He admitted to liking me back after being very confused why I ran away.
We continued talking for a few months, keeping it quiet due to track starting up and not wanting people to know. Then BOOM, Covid hit, and we were not able to see each other for several months. I texted him, constantly. Somedays I wonder how he put up with me. We got to know each other very well during this time, because all we could do was talk. Around June of 2020, we finally started hanging out. He came over and hung out with just Joel and I. After that night I knew it was only a matter of time until we started dating. For his birthday, I bought him the Han Solo Dice (star wars fans know) to hang from his mirror in the car. Matt gave me the biggest hug, I could tell his nerd heart finally felt understood.
On August 23rd, 2020, after hanging out at my house, I walked him upstairs to leave, and right as he went to walk out the door I stopped him and blurted out very quickly, “WILL YOU GO OUT WITH ME?” He sounded so relieved as he breathed out “Yes.” We hugged so tight and I whispered “I just want to call you my boyfriend,” with tears brimming. I found out years later that he was also planning to ask me out that same week!
Fast forward to August 31st, 2024 Memorial Hill, Treaty City XC meet. We have gone to this meet every year since we met as a tradition, and to cheer on our younger XC friends. By this point in our relationship, we had wanted to get married for around 2 years. All day I had wondered, will today be the day? It was too perfect, exactly 5 years ago we had met at the same event. We had a photoshoot scheduled for later in the day, so I wondered if he would propose at the meet or later. After he didn't propose at the meet, I wondered if that afternoon would be the time. I got all ready, and he picked me up. When we got to the photoshoot, nothing was different. It just felt like a normal day with Matt, and I kept trying to read his face, but it was hard to because he always looks at me like he is madly in love. We did a whole 30 minute photoshoot before he said, “Hang on I’m going to grab my glasses from the car.” I was confused but thought that makes sense he probably just wants to see better for our last few photos. So we took just a few more shots at the hill, right where we met. We looked into each other’s eyes, as our photographer joked, “Okay Matt now’s the time, get down on one knee!”…..And then he DID! I gasped. The photographer gasped. She said, “I had no idea!!” Luckily, she continued taking the pictures. I was shaking so bad “So will you?” he inquired. “YES, of course!” I replied. We hugged and he put the ring on my finger. I rotated between crying, hyperventilating, and laughing hysterically. He tried to calm me down so I wouldn’t pass out.
It was everything I could have imagined. The ring was a design we both had thought of separately. We both wanted our birthstones incorporated into the ring somehow. We came together and realized we had read each other’s mind and began talking about the specifics of the design. Seeing it in person, knowing how much care he had put into it, was overwhelming to say the least.
So, let’s all thank Joel for being, surprisingly, a very successful matchmaker!

Now, there’s only one thing left to do…
To say I DO!!!

See you then,

Authored by Elise approved by Matt👍