Ryan and I met at North Dakota State University my senior year of college. We both remember seeing each other over the years and being intrigued, but didn’t actually meet until later on. After exchanging numbers towards the end of our senior year, we chatted casually all summer and got to know each other. That summer, he came down to the cities and we went to a Twins game! We had such a great weekend and I’ve been hooked ever since. We both lived in Fargo going to NDSU for the first year of our relationship. The next May, I graduated from grad school and moved back to the Twin Cities for work. We did long distance for one year while Ryan was still in Pharmacy school, and we have done another 3.5 years of long distance with him back in his hometown of Bemidji.

One weekend in May 2019, Ryan came down to St. Paul to visit. Our plan was to walk to a nearby bar and get a couple drinks. As we were walking, Ryan kept redirecting us to go a different route to get to the bar. He paused by a park with a huge lilac tree in full bloom. He asked if we could go into the park, and at this point, I thought something was fishy. He turned to me and got down on one knee under this beautiful lilac tree. He said the most wonderful things and I probably only remember half of them as I was in complete shock. I of course said yes, and we’ve been busy planning our forever ever since!