“We are all a little weird and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall in mutual weirdness and call it love.” ― Dr. Seuss

We have known each other much longer than the six years we’ve been together. We were friends & able to make each other laugh whenever we crossed paths. Whenever Sam entered a room Alex would yell, “HIIII SAAAM!” no matter the time or instance. The cutest thing ever, in Sam’s opinion. We lost touch for quite a few years, had heartbreaks along the way & grew up in the process. Alex was living in Wisconsin, Sam was in Escanaba. She was on a trip to Six Flags “Frightfest” with one of her Maidens of Honor, Jenna, and posted a picture posing with a zombie, captioning it, “My new zombie boyfraaan!” Alex commented on the photo, “Be careful Sam! He’s just using you for your brains!” and that’s honestly how it started. Alex moved home to Escanaba, bought his first home, & was insane enough to ask Sam and her mini zoo (Indy the cat & Tyson the chubby beagle) to move in. Sam cried the first 24 hours after moving in, having moved a total of less than 10 blocks from her parents. It didn’t faze Alex one bit. He supported Sam’s crazy & all the pet hair that came along with it. We have been on so many adventures. Alex took Sam to New York for the first time and opened Sam’s eyes to new way people live. Fast-paced, beautiful, cramped, dirty, complex, delicious & amazing. It’s intoxicating. Not to mention the vegan food. It’s a freakin’ paradise. We packed up Alex’s car and drove 1,478 miles to Glacier National Park & Yellowstone National Park. Camped most of the way & put up our tent in a thunderstorm & celebrated with a beer in the car. We saw so many beautiful things, had scary moments like when a truck’s tire tread flew right into our car in the middle of nowhere. Nothing but dirt and hills for miles. Alex tied his bumper on with his shoestring. A true McGyver. Since we did not kill or leave each other in the mountains or have any all-out arguments on this trip, we decided our relationship was made for the long-term for sure.

Sam accepted a full-time position that promised quite a bit of stability & asked Alex one day, “so does this mean we can get hitched sooner than we were discussing?” to which he replied, “Yes.” Well that was all Sam needed to get that ball rolling. She may have leaked that information to her Mom, who then had her come over and look at some family wedding rings. Sam picked her Mom’s engagement ring that was damaged & her dad had replaced. Sam may have taken the ring home & and may have sent pictures of it to Jenna (giggles and excitement ensued), may have given it to Alex and said, “if you hypothetically proposed, this could hypothetically be the ring you use, after we hypothetically get it restored.” Sam is impatient. Most people know this. Alex takes his time. Most people also know this. One night, after Sam knew the finished ring was back in Alex’s custody (she tried it on by not looking in the Richardson’s parking lot), she asked Alex to propose. He said, “Are you serious?” Sam went back and forth for the whole duration of a movie. Then said, “Yes! Do it. I wanna be engaged to you.” Alex laughed and went and got the ring. Got on one knee in the living room, with just the TV for light & said, “Samantha Grau, will you do me the honor of marrying me?” [here comes Alex’s favorite part] Sam was so excited she couldn’t form words. Her acceptance sounded like, “herbergorefurburgahbah!” as she hugged him and teared up. They laughed all night.