Nate and I met on a warm summer day in 2018 at the "Summer Kickoff" event our young adult group was holding at our church. We both participated in many of the activities offered: volleyball, bag-toss, roasting marshmallows, and singing worship songs. The main event that night, however, was Capture the Flag. Just before nightfall, we split the group into two equal teams, and the skirmish began. I was playing solid defense for my team and no one was able to get close to our flag. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge blur rushed towards me. It was Nate. Although I never actually tagged him, I was able to keep up with him enough that I was able to dissuade him from capturing our flag (some back and forth friendly trash talk may have helped as well). Needless to say, I was in awe of this new challenger. From that night on, we hung out with the group (and eventually on our own) throughout the summer and into the fall doing all sorts of adventurous things: playing spray bottle pictionary while cleaning chairs, going to libraries, walking together, “forgetting” to invite Nate to movies, and finding joy in whatever we do.

Last fall, I asked Amy to be my girlfriend at a (now our) tiny little park on Lake Winnebago. To propose, I wanted to do the same. It started off when I began to look at rings (a more complicated process than I realized). After talking to her parents (or as Amy knew it, "eating dinner with my brother"), I was excited to move forward with their approval. When the ring I found arrived a couple of weeks later, it was time. I scouted out our park a couple of days prior and was surprised to find the park busier than I had ever seen it before. This led to an overplanned series of events including, but not limited to: scouting out multiple locations, setting up my "marry me?” props at two separate parks, recruiting the help of a couple of my friends (Ali, Andrew, Clayton, Tom, and Kaitie, now groomsmen and bridesmaids), recording video at each of the parks to show my recruits where the props were, having a 30 minute meeting in a work conference room, visiting the locations explaining to people around to steer clear of the area, and instructing recruits (Tom and Clayton) to provide real-time intelligence of the status of the parks. Catching Amy completely off guard, I proposed and she said yes (I have video proof!)!!! From the park, and still recovering from my nervous trembles (just wait till the wedding...), we went out to eat. After that, I enlisted a group of friends to gather for another surprise celebration at her apartment. To conclude the night, Amy and I made a late night venture to the backup proposal location. A couple of days later, we kept the celebration going by spending a day at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. It truly was a weekend I will always remember. I love you Amy and am excited to begin life with you!