We're Getting Married!

Dear reader, It would be nice if they met in a kismet moment under the stars in Paris. Maybe they met while hiking the Grand Canyon! In truth, my good friend, it was a dating app… Like most dating apps, their conversation began with a quippy Q&A. His first question to her was, “In what order do you brush your teeth? Toothpaste, water, then mouth? Toothpaste, mouth, no water?”. A very inquisitive question if you ask me, but I’m just the narrator. Anyways, it was at that moment that the first chair clarinetist from Toledo knew that she had found something really special in a goofy theater kid from Cincinnati. In truth, the band geeks and theater nerds are in a constant rivalry with no end in sight. This love story, however, is set to prove them all wrong. After some convincing and a push from his friends, Dakota took Nicole up on her offer to meet in person. Presidents Day 2022. The sun is shining, the air is chilly, the bees…well the bees aren’t there at all because it's winter. They decided to grab some tacos and margs at Condado on their day off. At the time, Dakota was living and working in Dayton and Nicole was teaching biology on the west side of Cincinnati. So naturally they met halfway between them both. Their first date was 4 hours long!! I’ll spare you the hours of details, but let’s just say that it was the best date they had been on in a long time. It started with strawberry margs, then some tacos, and ended with some ice cream at a Graeters down the road. I know that you are probably wondering if they kissed at the end of their first date…they did not. Their first kiss was actually after their second date, a week later, not too far away at a local pizza place. It was behind that pizza place that Dakota asked if he could kiss her. This narrator is not at liberty to disclose any more spicy details about their kiss at this time. Just know that this one kiss, in the back parking lot of a pizza place, changed their lives forever. They saw each other each week after that kiss. Aside from that one week when Dakota came down with strep throat from a bowling alley on date #4. Soon, Nicole and Dakota realized that they actually were in some of the same places at the same time…but never met each other. They found out how similar their parents were and how much they loved watching the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills on the couch. They realized how important chosen family is and what it means to truly beat someone in The Settlers of Catan. Since then,they have been to Washington DC (won’t happen again), blacked out in Chicago (might happen again), shared wonderful wins and heartbreaking losses together, attended 2 renaissance festivals, enjoyed countless concerts, took trips to Dakota’s family lake house, spent long weekends in Toledo, experienced all of the Great Lakes (Lake Michigan is the best)…the list truly goes on and on. It was also during this time that Dakota and Nicole started to settle into the idea that this person, the person that started as an idea or a dream, might actually be sticking around for a while…maybe longer than that. Dakota is a certified yapper. This man cannot keep a secret to save his life. When he bought the ring, he told everyone. They offered to keep it at their houses just so that he wouldn’t spill the beans. He, however, truly thought that he could have some self-control. Nicole’s only rule was that he didn’t propose on a major holiday. The ring arrived on February 13th, 2023. The 13th is exactly one day before Valentine's Day. A major holiday. Nicole and Dakota were engaged on Valentine's Day, at 11:45pm, in their bedroom, exactly 1 day after Dakota had the ring in his possession. And so, as you peruse this website and its contents, keep in mind that this story that you just read is not much different from other love stories that you will find. However, this love story is unique because of the people that it started with; a band geek and a theater nerd.