We are so excited to celebrate with you!

After a long week studying for tests for school, my brain was a puddle. It was the weekend and all I wanted to do was melt into my couch and stare at my TV until I passed out. Fortunately, I had two persistent friends urging me to come out of my cave and into the light, you know, to actually see other humans. After multiple phone calls telling me to come to meet up at a volleyball court I gave in. My reply was something along the lines of “Fine! But don't actually expect me to play!”. This was the best decision I could have made. As the night went on these particular friends were working their magic on another person to come to play volleyball. It was a girl named Cierra whom I had seen around at the Crossfit gym but hadn’t really talked to much. She was blonde with hazel eyes and seemed like someone I should get to know. When she arrived I was able to sneak my way into a conversation with her by overhearing her and another at this get together talking about Chris Hemsworth and Thor. I'm sure it was something about how attractive he was but, of course, I injected my flavor of weirdness and moved the topic over to mythology. To my surprise, she was interested. The next test was to see how she handled my ADHD “let's talk about 50 topics in 5 mins”. As I am sure you guessed, she did wonderfully. We talked about Jesus, this weird personality test called the Enneagram that was her personal obsession, and other deep conversation topics that have probably never graced the Sandbox restaurant and beach volleyball courts. After that night I had to get to know her more. I asked friends for her number and was rewarded with it. The rest is history. I fell in love with her! Thank goodness for amazing friends and not completely melting into my couch.

Planning a surprise proposal for Cierra was like trying to keep a mystery case unsolved from a detective, next to impossible. I wanted to recreate our first date with the help of her family and friends. I almost spoiled it right off the bat by excessively blushing when asking if we could go to Harry’s Country Club for dinner one night, perhaps December 12. This was where we shared our first meal together and talked the night away. But alas, she was immediately on my scent. I tried throwing this bloodhound off the trail by having her sister Julia give her false information and dates, all the while planning with her the perfect day. Her best friend Paige reached out to her weeks in advance to set up a brunch at her favorite restaurant the Rockhill Grill. An unplanned invitation from her cousin Kirsten to visit the virtual reality bar Double Tap in the River Market that afternoon continued one of her most happiest days. As the day approached we finally had the perfect plan. Dinner at Harry’s at a flexible time, “game night” with the siblings at Julia’s apartment, where outside her apartment was a wonderful amphitheater perfect for getting down on one knee for Cierra. The amphitheater was decorated with lights and candles enveloping a small table with a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

The day began as a crisp winter morning that put Cierra at ease and myself on edge. We had a wonderful brunch with Paige and her husband Eric where we shared laughs, memories, and dreams of the future. After, she immediately was able to go see her sister and cousin at Double Tap. She had so much fun that she extended her plans there by an hour, throwing off my timeline! But I met her at Harry’s Country Club where we got our usual chicken fried chicken and relived our first date. Comically, she even told me at the beginning of our dinner that “I thought you were going to propose tonight but Julia said it wasn’t going to happen for some time.” I kept my cool, finished the meal. We got bundled up and began to walk over to Julia’s. Just before rounding the corner I looked over at Cierra, she was talking on and on about some topic, wrapped in a mask, large coat, hood up so she could barely see and yoga pants. I began to laugh because she truly doesn’t know what's about to hit her. She is thrown off by my seemingly random laughter until she turns the corner and sees what was awaiting her. A quiet courtyard with bright lights and flowers signaled that she had been right all along. She froze to the ground “Wait! John, Wait! What is going on?!” I took her hand and led her to the table and the surrounding lights embraced us. I get down on one knee and look into her beautiful hazel eyes. “Cierra, you are the only person I want to spend my life with. You challenge me, you support me, and you can handle me at my worst. Will you marry?”. She shakily said “Yes!” holds out her hand and I slip on her engagement ring.