Cole and I met from our mutual friend in high school at Lee's Summit North. Cole was a senior and I was a sophomore. I had just turned sixteen and I was in for a whirlwind. Cole and I met at our friends house one day after school and I knew from that moment that he was something special - something different. I had never really dated anyone and had no idea what to expect or what to even do. Heck, I was still young! We left that evening and started talking on Facebook messenger that night and I told him I "had to go" and if he wanted to still talk he can text me and gave Cole my number. From the first day we met we have not stopped talking. There has not been a day since that we have not spoken to each other. In the early years of our relationship there were lots of texts and long phone calls that kept me (and my parents) up at night. Lots of getting myself into trouble trying to keep up with him and lots of times my family wasn't exactly on the "Cole train". Our relationship is far from perfect, but it is our story.

I had given Cole tickets to a concert for his birthday and it just so happened that it was on the night of our anniversary. Since we never really do anything over the top or have much planned for our anniversary, I was okay with this. The concert was on the Friday night after Labor Day weekend and we both worked that day. We met at my parents house to drop off the dogs at their house since we would be staying the night near the concert venue. While at school that day the girls I work with kept saying "I expect a ring by Monday..., it's going to happen tonight..., blah blah blah". Well folks, after nine years together you don't get your hopes up. You don't play into things. It was just another day to me. It was a dreary, rainy September evening and when leaving my parents house I didn't suspect anything heading to the concert. Cole was relatively quiet the entire drive to Bonner Springs, KS but again, I didn't think anything of it. When we got there we sat on the back of his tailgate in the rain just talking about life, the previous nine years together, and he was making friends around us while having a few beers. After the concert started and many people started heading inside the venue Cole and I decided to stay in the parking lot a little while longer listening to it from there. He left me on the tailgate and went around to the front of the truck and when he came back around he was down on one knee. I thought he had dropped something in the gravel and looked down to see what it may have been. Then he started talking and my brain still couldn't put together that this was actually happening. He asked me those words I have been waiting SO long to hear and I told him no. Three times to be exact. I had pushed this moment so far out of my brain that I couldn't comprehend that this was actually happening...it was actually my turn! Finally, it clicked and I started bawling. It took nine years, but it was well worth the wait.