The whole story...

Cody and Alyssa met for the first time in 2009, during an impromptu room & board situation, organized by Meghan and Kyle (Matron of Honor and Best Man). The plan was for Cody and Kyle to pick up the girls at Alyssa's house in Connecticut, and give them a lift back to New York City preceding their upcoming college semester. In return, the boys would be welcomed in their college apartment for a summer weekend of their own adventuring and shenanigans!

It was an overcast, but mild Connecticut evening. Cody and Kyle roared up in a '99 Pontiac Grand Am GT (Author's note: the only revision to this tale, demanded by Best Man Kyle, was to scrupulously include the details of the car's make and model, for it represented the symbolic emancipation of American purism, and Kyle's high quality as a human being. The man sought pride in his patronage of the classic American 6-cylinder "muscle car," a vehicle that would remain in service as our faithful vessel for many years. Flexing--it seems--was its main prerogative). The car's color: white. The gas tank: full. The tunes: bumping. And the boys: steadfast and ready to make the trek! Cody humbly trudged up to Alyssa's front door, introduced himself to her and her parents, and carried the luggage to the car. "What a gentleman," Alyssa thought. Upon this good first impression, the group huddled into the modest vessel, and began the ride forth.

All was well for most of the passage. The girls spent the majority of the ride giggling in the back seat, giddy with anticipation for their upcoming semester. (Authors note from Meghan: We were giddy not just in anticipation but also at our joyous reunion because being forced to be separated for more than a day at a time was just TOO MUCH considering our usual pattern of being attached at the hip during college. We were also very happy that Kyle and Cody were willing to give us a ride to the city so we could return earlier than planned (thanks, guys!!)! The boys, too, were eager to make it to New York, equipped with baseball mitts for games of catch in Central Park, and a pair of road bicycles mounted to the car's trunk, ready for prompt assignment to the city's boisterous streets. They cooed Bob Dylan singalong irreverently from the front seat, excited for the days to come.

The group had nearly completed their trek, finding themselves on Route 95 just north of the city and heading south like rolling thunder. When suddenly, from behind the wheel, Cody hears a startling scrape and bang from behind. He peeks in the rearview to discover a terrifying spectacle. The bicycles! They were collapsing off the delicately arranged trunk-mounting system, and dragging across the fast lane of the freeway in no less than complete and utter chaos. Cody, in his infinite 20-year old brilliance, decides to slam the brakes, you know, to save the bikes obviously, and stops the car right there in the shoulder next to the fast lane. Traffic seemed light enough in this late night evening hour for a quick adjustment and repair. Kyle hops out of the passenger seat and races full speed to the rear of the vehicle to re-fasten the treasured bikes back into place, leaving the door wide open for what was going to be a quick undertaking.

All is calm for a moment, only the distant hum of the city traffics to be heard as Kyle wrestles with the fasteners and scrims. Cody scans the rearview methodically, looking out for encroaching vehicles, while Kyle continues working frantically to re-fasten the bikes to the trunk. 5 seconds pass... then 10. Then 30. With each passing moment, panic escalates in the car. "Kyle, hurry the hell up!" Cody shouts from the driver seat of a parked and idling vehicle. Now the girls have become anxious; tension is mounting. Suddenly, and seemingly without warning, Cody spots a Big Rig in the rearview! 18 wheels of torment barreling down the freeway at full speed, looking to annihilate anything in its path. And only about 100 yards behind... "KYLE WE GOTTA GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!" The girls start screaming. The truck lays on the horn! It's coming damn quick and not far out! Kyle, still by the trunk, between the truck's path and our vessel, locks eyes with Cody through the rearview. There's only one move to save us all, and they both know it...

Cody *SLAMS* on the gas leaving Kyle abandoned on the moonlit freeway, a burning trail of rubber and smoke behind him. The girls let out a synchronous screech as the open passenger door crashes itself shut, and their reckless driver veers across 4 lanes of vacant highway, into the safety of the nearby breakdown lane. The big rig *misses* the collision with the White Stallion by seemingly milliseconds, whiffing by aggressively and laying on its own horn creating an angry cacophony; the crew watches it roll by.

But what of Kyle? Our brother in arms, our comrade... what had become of him? All is quiet in the car as the Pontiac purrs an idle engine, and the group peers across the dark highway in search of their friend.

Hark! From behind a concrete well, a head pokes up! Kyle?! Yes! In a last ditch effort for his own survival, indeed Kyle had made his escape into a quiet grassy center median between the two directions of freeway! My god, he was alive! And all the jollier for it! The group, in a sigh of relief, watches as Kyle hops the median and proceeds to real-life frogger his way across 4 lanes of freeway and jump safely back into the passenger seat of the Grand Am.

Pale as ghosts and quiet as mice, the group continued the voyage to the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Upon arrival, Alyssa vowed never to speak to Cody ever again, and avoided him for most of his stay...

Fast forward 4 years: May 2013. Cody, Kyle, and Meghan, are all living in LA, and still of course, the best of friends. They frequent the local bars, concerts, and pool halls, making for the best of times. Alyssa, still residing in NYC, had still not provided so much as a glimmer of a thought towards Cody since that infamous New York summer trip. A wise spite, perhaps.

Alyssa, yearning for a break from the monotony of NYC, calls Meghan to confide, who suggests perhaps a relaxing trip to sunny Los Angeles for a bit of R&R...4 days later, tickets were booked, bags were packed, and Alyssa's first adventure to California was underway! While hanging out in Meghan's house in Riverside, they got a call from Kyle, who had the most creative suggestion for a Cinco de Mayo festivus: Visit Cody and his parents who were visiting from Boston. Alyssa heard Cody was going to be there and she immediately said "NO WAY. If Cody's there I'm not going." 30 mins later they were in the car headed to Huntington beach to meet up with the crew. Meghan has a magical way of approaching Alyssa with an open mind and talking her into things like this.

On May 5th, 2013, Kyle, Meghan and Alyssa were all waiting for Cody to join them in the lobby of the Huntington Hyatt when all of a sudden Alyssa locked eyes with Cody. She felt as if she was hit with an arrow from cupid! Now, we could end the story here but if you want ALL of the details, keep reading. ;)

So, for the rest of the weekend, she threw away the memories of the past as everyone hung out in the hot tubs, spent time on the beach, drank Jim Beam, and ate amazing food. Cody and Alyssa didn't want the weekend to end. The next day, Alyssa headed back to NYC longing for Cody's big brown eyes and warm LA spring days (Note: Meghan can confirm that she heard A LOT about this during that time). It didn't take long before Cody was on a flight to visit Alyssa in NYC for the 4th of July! They flew back and forth visiting each other every 6 weeks for the next year. Then, after many tiring debates of who's moving where, Cody asked Alyssa to move in with him and she did on October 1st 2014.

Zoom forward again to April 2018, when Kyle invited Cody and Alyssa to travel around the Caribbean in his private rented boat for 10 days. Kyle is a trained captain and they couldn't resist saying yes to such an exciting opportunity. After the 3rd day of island hopping and fun in the sun, Cody told Kyle of the ring! Kyle didn't see it coming and almost woke Alyssa up with his excitement who was sleeping below. After 2 failed attempts to propose (the first at a tropical volcano and the second at a waterfall), Cody finally settled on the beautiful island of Les Saintes as the perfect destination to propose! If only picking the island was the easiest part...

The island is a French territory so Cody enrolled our boat mate and friend, Isabel, to help him translate and scout the perfect place. While they were scoping out the beach and talking to the hotel manager, Alyssa was getting increasingly aggravated on the boat since they left her to wait without any warning of leaving or returning! After 90 long minutes, Isabel and Cody returned back to the boat to find Alyssa fuming. Thankfully, Cody knew just how to cheer up her and asked her to do a "photoshoot" on the beach. It worked. Alyssa, Cody, Kyle, and Isabel headed to shore with Kyle taking the photos and Isabel taking a video. Cody tried a few poses to make sure the angle was right for the proposal on camera while Alyssa still had no idea. Then, the big moment arrived! Cody got down on one knee and instead of going along on the proposal, Alyssa sat right down on Cody's proposal knee like it was just another photo! Everyone laughed, except Alyssa, of course, who was still in the dark! It wasn't until Cody held Alyssa's hands away from his body so he could get down on one knee that she knew what was happening. After Cody's 3 minute long proposal speech, Alyssa said YES and the rest was history!