We’re getting married!

We met at a bar and we have talked every day since we met. Now, we want to make a commitment to spend the rest of our lives together by throwing a party with our family and friends!

We met through mutual friends at Tomfooleries on the plaza during my second year of working as a Speech-Language Pathologist in the schools. It was a grad school “reunion” with my gal pals and their significant others. Taylor was invited by one of the couples that went to Mizzou with him. His dark hair caught my attention and I was intrigued from the moment I saw him. As the night progressed, we went bar hopping and Taylor and I ended up near each other towards the end of the night, instead of across the table as we initially were. My friend Kristin talked him up and then assisted in the exchange of numbers. From that night on, we’ve been in contact every day. His charming personality and constant orneriness won me over and I can't wait for him to entertain me for the rest of my life. ;)

As all great love stories do, this one starts in a bar. Tomfooleries to be exact. For those that do not know Tomfooleries, it is a no longer existent bar/restaurant on the Plaza in Kansas City, MO. Some say it’s no longer open because the building it was in was sold to make way for luxury apartments. I like to think it’s no longer around because the highpoint of its illustrious career was Becky and I meeting, and, after this, Tom’s had nowhere to go but down. You can judge for yourself which is more accurate. As mentioned, Becky and I first met at Tomfooleries, specifically in November of 2013. I remember this not because I’m a responsible fiancé that remember important dates of Becky’s and my relationship, but because I moved out of my parents’ house, got a job, and met Becky all in the span of a week. Frankly, one of the luckier weeks of my life. Again, I’ll you decide which of the three I consider the luckiest part of that week. I was at Tomfooleries that night because a fraternity brother of mine and his girlfriend, also a friend of mine, had invited me out. Becky just happened to be the closest girl to me at the table we were at, so, that’s why I started talking to her…that’s not true at all, I just wanted Becky to read that line and be angry for a second. She’s quite cute when angry. Please don’t throw anything at me Becky. Becky and I hit it off immediately. Some of her friends noticed and helped “wingman” for me (shout out to the Rockhurst Speech Pathologists), as we all know how shy Becky can be at first. From that day on we’ve been pretty much inseparable. Many dinners, many talks, many nights outs, many movies, many TV binge watching sessions, many Royals/Chiefs/Sporting KC games, many drinks (perhaps too many?), and, most important, many loved filled moments with each other. The rest, as they say, is history.

Leading up to the proposal I was suspicious. Taylor let it slip that he’d made a big purchase. He’d gone and spent time with my family without me (very atypical). He was adamant that we go to La Bodega (our first date spot) and he rescheduled "date night" because he picked up on my plans to get a manicure after a tentative date. On November 21, 2018, I met Taylor at his place and we went to La Bodega. At La Bodega we ordered tapas to share and had some drinks. Taylor was frequently texting on his phone and seemed different. He was semi blushing off and on, he ordered a coffee drink (which he never does), and he made it known that he was going to the bathroom multiple times. We finished our dinner and drinks and nothing had happened. He suggested going and hanging out at his place for awhile to kill time before meeting up with friends later. I said I was down. We got back to his place and entered through the back door and his place was filled with our friends and family. Half the people appeared to be be saying, "hi" and the other half seemed to be saying, "congrats." I was really confused because nothing had happened yet! I asked Taylor, "What's going on?" and he responded with, "You know." and proceeded to get down on a knee and pulled out a box. He said some words. I saw the box, that was facing him, took it and said, "YES!" Next, we celebrated with our friends and family.