Behind him, muffled noises from family and friends sporadically escaped the house as Charlie Woerner stood in his parents’ driveway, taking a moment away from the celebration inside. Charlie’s arms wrapped around his fiancé, Sydney Gilliam. They hugged wordlessly, heads tipped to the sky.
“We’re going to San Francisco,” Sydney said. “This is wild. Like where is that on a map? That is so far away from here.”
Earlier that Saturday evening of April 25, 2020, Charlie received a call that would change their shared life for the next four years. He missed the call and dialed back on Sydney’s phone due to poor service in the country.
When it finally connected, it was with the San Francisco 49ers. They used the No. 190 overall pick in the sixth round of the 2020 NFL Draft to select Charlie, a tight end from the University of Georgia.
“I never thought I’d be drafted,” Charlie said. “To be drafted was just, ‘Whoa, I got drafted.’ I was wanted.”
Charlie was born and raised in Tiger, Georgia. He remained in state for college at UGA despite a coaching change before his arrival and multiple offers from other programs. That’s where he met Sydney.
Relocating to California would be their first time living not just an airplane ride away but cross-country.
“It didn’t seem scary at all,” Sydney said.
In June 2020, they married in Sydney’s hometown before Charlie left for training camp with the 49ers. It wasn’t until September that Sydney joined him in San Jose.
“I was nervous he was going to get depressed,” Kathy Woerner said about her son being alone during camp due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Protocols shifted toward normalcy as they adjusted to life in California.
“I was so thankful that he was married,” Kathy said.
Rent went from $300 apiece among roommates in Athens to $4,000 solo in San Jose for a one-bedroom unit. The clean slate gave Sydney something to do amid restrictions; she ordered furniture and baked cookies weekly for the team.
The first wave of homesickness hit at Thanksgiving when they couldn’t join family dinners back home.
“We have these kids…then all of a sudden they’re gone,” Kent Woerner said about missing his son.
During those first two years centered around each other due to pandemic limitations, Charlie played games as a rookie while undergoing surgeries later on before discovering they’d become parents soon after buying their house back home during offseason visits between seasons abroad playing football professionally elsewhere outside Georgia again once more now permanently relocated near Flowery Branch where Falcons practice facilities are located nearby too conveniently enough thankfully though still nonetheless ultimately fortunately speaking optimistically realistically pragmatically hopefully ideally eventually ultimately finally concluding decisively affirmatively positively conclusively satisfactorily gratifyingly successfully effectively efficiently proficiently competently expertly skillfully adeptly adroitly dexterously nimbly agilely deftly swiftly rapidly expeditiously briskly promptly speedily hastily hurriedly quickly fast fleet-footedly light-footedly sure-footedly steadily 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