I was working at a restaurant and Brian was a customer. It was a really cute meeting. Brian would come in for dinner maybe once a week. I noticed him a few times, and he always smiled at me and said "hi" but I didn't really think about it until one night I did... Brian was sitting at the bar and when he went to the restroom I asked my friend, who was bartending, what she knew about him. She said, "Oh my gosh, he is so nice and he has a huge crush on you! He was going to ask you out last week but he chickened out." (Turns out he had a crush on me for a couple months.) When he came back and sat down, I walked over to him. I asked him yes/no questions - drill style, "are you married, do you have kids, do you want kids, are you a flat-earther" etc. Poor guy. He looked bewildered but he answered each inquiry without question. I smiled at him and walked away and came back shortly with my phone number written on a sticker (he still has that sticker), and told him he could call me. Then a few minutes later, I had to come back again - I had forgotten to ask, "also, what's your name?". Hahahah. He laughed and told me "it's Brian". He text me that night. The following day we talked on the phone for 4 hours. I knew he was the one on our first date a couple days later.
We love day trips around Montana - exploring, hiking, rock hounding, dive bars - mostly for the greasy burgers. Brian is an avid mountain biker and scuba diver. I like to bike with him, but am much much slower. I can't dive because of my bad ear sadly. Brian also loves to tinker with his hands. He builds models, is always working on his motorcycle or bicycle, or some other manly thing. I love hosting (please come visit!), cooking, hot springs, yoga, and gardening. Brian does not love hot springs hahaha. So if you do come visit, I'll definitely try to drag you to the hot springs with me. He says he doesn't like gardening, but somehow he always shows up when I'm doing something... We planted 100 tulips this fall - cross your fingers they make it! We also love cooking dinner together, and trying new ways to make healthy food exciting. We love having friends over and playing games, Phase 10 & Sequence are some favorites. We play scrabble and checkers together - Brian usually kicks my butt. We both love good ole' 80's/90's movies (think Lethal Weapon, Beverly Hills Cop, Overboard, etc.), and funny shows tv shows (The Office, Seinfeld, Frasier, etc.). We are lucky that we both enjoy reading, so we read together too. And of course, we love our sweet old lady dog Ella. She just turned 12. The best little gal one could ever hope for.
Brian asked if we could elope, actually, sometime last spring long before we got engaged. I could tell it was something he really wanted (he doesn't ask for much), and so I agreed. He says he really doesn't like "hoopla" and wanted it to be just about us. The added benefit being less stressful and more affordable. We talked loosely about eloping somewhere fun the next year. After we got engaged, August 6, 2023, we came up with a plan. I asked Brian what he wanted to do and his only request outside of eloping quietly was "somewhere he can scuba dive", (he is an avid diver) and I could plan the rest. Seemed like a great deal to me! When Brian asked if we could elope I had two different scenes in my head, warm lazy beach, or misty rainy Scotland. Well, he asked to dive so beach it was! I love the ocean so no complaints here. I did a little research and found that Bonaire and Curaçao are supposed to be some of the best diving in the Caribbean. I've always wanted to go so why not? Neither of us had to been to either island so it would be a fun and new adventure for us both. Thank for being there with us in spirit. We love you all so very much.