What could be more romantic than a company blood drive…

Julie: so, we met at our company blood drive

Charlie: more precisely, June 17, 2016

Julie: yes, we had both been working with SunTrust for about a year - Charlie was an analyst, I was an admin - and the bank was holding its regular company blood drive with the Red Cross. I had never donated blood so I was very nervous and wasn’t sure what to expect. But a shooting had happened in Orlando recently and I wanted to try to donate that day. Charlie decided to donate as well (he donates blood all the time), but this was my first time - and probably last time - to ever donate

Charlie: yeah, I had donated regularly, I see it as a simple way to give back so it’s something I try to do regularly

Julie: well because I was already nervous to go and nearly backed out that day, I got a colleague of mine to go with me. We got to the room at my appointment time, 10:00, and I sat down to wait for a nurse to call me back to answer the preliminary questions

Charlie: I thought it was 10:30…?

Julie: it was 10:00

Charlie: you know what, I remember now, it was definitely 10. A part of the story I love, I had actually made my appointment for later that day, for around noon or so; however, a day or two before, I messaged a good friend and colleague of mine to ask when he was donating. He said 10 am and mocked me for wasting my lunch time donating. So while my appointment had been for later in the day, I decided to go with him. We went up to the drive and took our seats with the other folks waiting

Julie: a few minutes after arriving, a nurse stuck her head out from behind a curtain and called the next person to come back to be assessed. Charlie (who was sitting behind me in line) stood up thinking it was his turn right as I stood up too

Charlie: so, because I was next, I stood up and turned towards the nurse - only to realize some girl in my peripheral vision had stood up at the same time. I turned to my left to see who it was -

Julie: - and that was the first time we made eye contact. My colleague looked at me and said out of the corner of her mouth “you can’t cut in line…” (even though it was actually my turn). I was so nervous about the whole thing I didn’t even realize what was happening, but Charlie pretended to act like a gentleman and let me go first

Charlie: I smiled and met eyes with Julie, held out my hand gesturing for her to go in front, laughed and said “oh please, ladies first”

Julie: well, I was there first, so I wasn’t cutting in line. I walked back and the nurse took a sample of my blood and told me I was good to go and to go wait in the second part of the line. I started to freak out because I didn’t think I would actually be allowed to donate!

Charlie: after I had gone back and answered the nurse’s questions I sat back down next to the girl who had cut in front of me to wait for an open donation table. I remember looking at her thinking she was cute and trying to come up with something to talk about

Julie: Charlie sat down next to me and first made a little flirtatious joke about how I skipped him in line. We then started having little side conversations. I told him about how nervous I was and that this was my first time donating. He told me there was nothing to worry about and that he donates all the time and has never had a bad experience. As we were chatting though, one of the 4 people actually donating fainted and then a few moments later another person had a seizure!

Charlie: yeah, I didn’t expect that. Less than ideal timing for sure

Julie: at this point, I was really freaking out. But Charlie sat next to me during it all and made jokes to make me laugh and calm my nerves. Right before it was my turn, I told him I needed to listen to my relaxing music so I put in my headphones and then walked up to donate. As I was sitting in the chair donating, Charlie was sitting directly in front of me still making jokes and making me laugh. It was very sweet

Charlie: after chatting and asking Julie about her “happy playlist” we sat next to each other and donated. I remember peeking over to read the name on her access badge - “Julie Dilisio” - and making sure to store it away to look her up later. Afterwards, we exchanged smiles and went our separate ways

Julie: a few days later we reconnected. I honestly hadn’t been thinking about him over the prior week, but I got excited when we started talking. I remember feeling giddy about the whole thing as we were texting! Within a few days, he called me and asked me out on a date

Charlie: I was excited to have met this incredible girl, she was smart and funny and beautiful. Wanting to impress, I asked her out to dinner July 1, 2016 at Atlas, one of the nicest restaurants in the city - I thought she was something special and I wanted to impress her, but either way I was bound to get a good meal out of it! Our first date went terrifically, I was so nervous to pick her up, but conversation flowed, the food was incredible and I felt so comfortable. After that night, I couldn’t wait to see her again; in fact, we ended up spending most of that weekend together, we went to Finding Dory together, I took Emmy (her dog) on our first walk together, it was great. And it wasn’t long after that we were inseparable - I even helped her move a month after our first date!

Julie: for our first date, Charlie took me to a beautiful and delicious restaurant and we had a great time! I loved his sense of humor and he seemed like a really great guy. It wasn’t long after that we were inseparable (on only our second official date I made him go out to dinner with my best friend and her boyfriend). But after our date on July 1, we spent the rest of the weekend together, talked constantly and were soon spending every available hour together

And the rest is history…