T'was a simple Sunday at a crowded church in Manhattan on June 25, 2017. We had both arrived a teensy bit tardy and took the only open seats available, which just so happened to be next to each other. Thus the sparks began to fly and after several flirtatious glances, a shared hymn book, and at least one prayer, the most distracting church meeting we had ever been to ended and we formally introduced ourselves. The next morning we went on our first date.

Matt proposed to me first. We were in New York in December and I was certain (due to some snooping) that Matt would propose on Friday. We went to church on Sunday, the place where we first met, and Matt suggested we walk home through Central Park - one of my favorite places in New York, but not where I wanted to be on a freezing Sunday afternoon. Matt managed to convince me otherwise though and we started walking. It was fun to reminisce along the way of all our different memories in the park. We got to the lake where we went row boating on his first trip out to see me. We climbed up on the rocks surrounding the lake and started taking some selfies. I could see in the camera that Matt was starting to get this huge, excited smile on his face. I turned to ask him what he was so excited about and saw he was holding up a ring! Some sweet words and a proposal later, I said yes!

There are two things about Allison that I especially love 1. No matter how young or old you are she will throw a dodge ball at you point blank with as much force as she can muster and 2. She is a deep and true romantic. Fortunately, only one of these qualities played into our proposal. After getting engaged in New York I told Allison that I also wanted a proposal--something simple and sweet. She instantly agreed and I knew from her sly grin that I had opened the proverbial can of worms...but like the happy romantic kind of worms. About 10 days later we were exchanging Christmas gifts and Allison insisted that I open a very suspiciously small gift after we had our desert. It was obvious that was where she had hid the ring and so while we ate our brownie trifle I teased her mercilessly for the lack of subtlety. And that's when I nearly ate my ring. She had wrapped it in plastic and expertly hid it in the whip cream for me to find. Of course I was immediately delighted by the surprise and the wonderful sweet note that accompanied it. I said yes instantly and have been afraid of choking on deserts ever since.