Our Story

His Version

"It was the summer of 2010... things in Richmond were toasty (as usual).  The swim team season had ended, but marching band camp had not yet begun. Bored and lonely without my JMU Dukes brothers and sisters, I went out on a whim and messaged Chelsea.  We knew each other from Canterbury Episcopal Campus Ministry, had met a few times, but didn't know each other well, except that we were both Richmonders.

Chelsea mentioned that she hadn't been to the James River before, even though she was a Richmond native.  I suggested Pony Pasture, and we began to plan our adventure.  We met at my parent's house and drove down the street to the river.  It was fun hanging out with someone new.

We vowed to hang out again soon and planned to see each other once we were back at JMU.  One night of hanging out watching tv turned into two... and three... and a week... and then, luckily, we decided to start dating before our grades slipped.

I know many of our Canterbury friends were anxiously awaiting our "official" dating status, and so (by phone - since she had gone home for the weekend) we made it "officially official" on September 10, 2010 (hours before JMU would win an earth shattering victory against the Virginia Tech Hokies... which proves there is a God... and how pleased he was!)  The rest, they say, is history..." 

Her Version

I remember meeting Philip in March of 2010. My friend and hallmate, Meg Jordan, invited me to start going to church with her at Canterbury (the episcopal campus ministry at JMU). We attended the service together and stayed for dinner afterward. Thats where I was officially introduced to the Canterbury group, including Philip. Having had a boyfriend at the time, I didn't pay him much mind. I would see him at church on Sundays and at different events toward the end of the semester, but then it was time to go home for the summer. He and I had become friends on Facebook during the spring semester and chatted on Facebook a few times while at home for the summer. During one of these conversations, we talked about how both of us are Richmonders and that we should hang out sometime before the summer ended. He suggested that we go down to Pony Pasture near his house. I agreed, though I was super nervous. I was going out on a limb by hanging out with a guy I barely knew and going to a place I had never even heard of. He and I went on our adventure together in mid-August 2010 and had a lot of fun just talking and people watching. He left soon after that for band camp back at school and I moved into the dorms with my now roommate, Meg, a few days after. Once we were there, he wanted to have dinner with both of us. After that, just he and I started hanging out probably every night after band practice. One thing led to another and we made things official the night before he headed to Virginia Tech with the band and witnessed us beating them in person! Needless to say, thanks to "JMU beat Tech", he will never forget our dating anniversary. I started out with no thought whatsoever that Philip Tickle would or could potentially be my boyfriend and now I've ended up with the love of my life and my "bestest" friend. It doesn't get much better than this!