We met on the islands of Fiji....not the actual islands but rather a sand filled parking lot of my fraternity at Drake University with a bunch of drunk college kids. As you can imagine, this was quite the romantic scene. Maddy and I met at this date party through some mutual friends.

After returning to Drake for our senior year, our mutual friends started to hang out more and more. Naturally, Nick and I grew closer by getting thrown into random group chats with one another and often trading invites to fraternity/sorority events. I fondly remember Nick wearing a bear costume to one of my Kappa events and will never forget the first time he showed me the game show Baggage.

I asked Maddy out on our first date on the last day of our senior year of college. Better late than never. I picked her up in my 1983 Mustang Convertible with white leather interior and wood paneling. After driving over her sorority's bushes, we were off to Eatery A in downtown Des Moines where she had her first ever appetizer. The date couldn't have gone better in my eyes and I hoped she felt the same way.

Just a week after celebrating our 4 year anniversary, Nick planned a hike to Banning State Park. We love to hike and spend time outdoors so everything seemed normal to me until the morning of. Nick woke up bright and early (an unusual move for him on a Saturday), played country love songs the entire drive up and refused to let me divert from his planned hiking trail. Not 20 minutes after I looked at him and asked "what's your deal today? Are you proposing or something?" Nick got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. After saying yes to my best friend, we drove back to celebrate with friends and family on our apartment rooftop and hit the karaoke bar across the street.