We're finally getting married!

We met while we both were attending Albion College through mutual friends. One day it was mentioned how we both wanted Mac & Cheese. I mentioned that I had a few boxes of Kraft Mac & Cheese and we headed to our common area kitchen. As we began making our dinner, we quickly realized that we didn't have milk or butter. We ran over to Baldwin (our cafeteria) and snuck out milk in a water bottle and butter in a napkin and we were laughing the entire way back. I started attending his soccer games even if he didn't play and he would help me with my Calc 2 homework. We continued to hang out and began dating.

Although we spent many years together, many of them were spent apart. After I graduated and John completed his three years at Albion College, he went off to the University of Michigan to complete his Electrical Engineering Degree while I moved back to Grand Rapids to attend Grand Valley State University to earn my Master's Degree in Speech-Language Pathology. During this time, we spent two and a half years maintaining a long distance relationship. We made sure to talk on the phone every night and see each other at least once a month. After John graduated from U of M, he began a job at Shure Inc. in Chicago while I still had two more semesters left in graduate school. Once I graduated, I moved in with John in Chicago and we finally ended our long distance relationship.

We were celebrating Christmas with my family in South Haven. While we were opening presents, my cousins gave John gift cards to Jared's Jewelry as a hint. Halfway through, we decided to take a break and John mentioned that he wanted to drive down to the beach to go look at the pier. As we were leaving, John decided that he wanted to cut off the ski lift tag on his coat and that's when my suspicion rose. We got down to the pier and there were puddles of water everywhere. John had to carry me half way because I did not have the appropriate shoes. We made it to the one dry spot on the pier and we took a few pictures. I then saw my brother walking up and knew something was going to happen. I turned toward John and he said, "I think you know what I'm about to do".