Emily’s Story

I am a photojournalist and was working at a University of Georgia football game in Athens, Georgia on a beautiful, bright November day with an abundance of sunshine and warmth.  Trent asked if we could have a picnic after I was done.  He drove from Marietta to Athens with a picnic bundle of special Wisconsin beer and cheese.

We were enjoying the day, chatting and just basking in the moment.   He had a folded piece of paper in his pocket that looked like it had a rap/hip hop or some type of song on it.  Trent, who is a skinny white guy, likes to freestyle (we do it a lot through text, especially) and make up songs and is surprisingly talented at it.  It looked like a funny song.  I asked if I could see it.  He said, very casually, no, but I’ll read it to you.  He started acting funny and fumbling around.  He stood up and turned to me and started performing this rap song.  I was smiling and laughing, then I realized the lyrics were about me.  He kept going with this amazing performance.  Then, he got down on one knee and sang his final line…Emily, will you marry me?

I jumped on him and said yes.  As he was spinning me around, we heard a crowd of applause and realized a lawn full of tailgaters had gathered and were taking pictures and congratulating us.  We toasted with everyone with the Wisconsin champagne-like beer.