We're Tying The Knot!

We were both hipsters. Dominique worked at Cafe Brasil. I frequented Cafe Brasil. It was 2016 and Montrose was still groovy, baby. Anyway, on a SERIOUS note... John Ricks, Giorgio Riccio and I decided to venture out to Cafe Brasil to celebrate Ricks's birthday with a day of merriment and revelry. I had actually already seen Dominique a few times prior to this occasion, as Brasil was one of my favorite places to go when I wanted to relax by myself, write and enjoy good food & coffee (also read: beer). Nevertheless, we had yet to formally speak to each other although her beautiful facial features and piercing eyes had already caught my attention. Also, she wore hip glasses and had curly hair so I thought she looked smart. Upon walking in I immediately noticed her behind the counter. I mentioned to Giorgio that I had seen this gorgeous young lady a few times before and really wanted to talk to her. He looked at me and said, "Say no more fam. I got you." I mostly just shrugged it off 'cause he's kind of a wild card and I wasn't sure what that meant or what he was going to do. The day continued and so did our merriment. Eventually, thanks to Giorgio, she and I end up at the table alone and we instantly hit it off. Being the gentleman that I am, I did not ask for her number. We casually exchanged SnapChat IDs and that was that. We departed shortly thereafter and I was left to only wonder what might happen next.

Dominique did not like coffee when we first met - I found out the hard way when she rejected my first couple tries to ask her out to coffee. I thought surely my chances were done, until she texted me one day and asked if I wanted to go see a play. I was fairly confident I had fallen in love with her after our first date - we literally sat for like 6 hours at Boheme (Montrose, groovy) and talked about everything. It only took us two more dates in eleven days before we both realized that we wanted the same thing - a relationship. It was pretty clear that we both knew we were the one for each other from the onset. We also knew that we were each other's missing puzzle pieces - fitting comfortably into each other's lives and everything between us simply made sense. Soon after, we were living together. And then became best friends. And then Dominique decided she liked coffee again. The rest is beautiful history. There's also one more section so scroll down to read about the proposal.

THIS IS THE BEST PART. I bought the ring June 2018, just before we moved out of Montrose (wasn't groovy anymore). I hid it under Dominique's side of the bed for FOUR MONTHS - it was even hidden throughout the move. I knew I had to give her a special moment that she could recollect one day with fondness and I had been looking for somewhere to go that would give us an opportunity to be outdoors. We found some decent flights to Colorado and booked it. I knew Dominique would love Rocky Mountain National Park. And I knew she would love getting engaged there. I planned a pretty taxing hike for us to some of the lakes in the park, and waited for the right moment. Finally we found a spot off the beaten path where I could pretend to take a picture, all the while having already started shooting a video and waiting to see if my heart was going to stop trying to leap out of my chest. With the beautiful clear blue sky behind us, mountains in the background and surrounded by magical woods, I turned to her and she said, "Honey why is your heart beating so hard? Are you OK?" I turned to her and said," Dominique. It's not a photo, it's a video." I won't tell you everything else I said, but on that day I dropped down to one knee and asked my best friend, lover and confidant to officially join me on the adventure of life. To see the look on her face that day, and hear the excitement in her voice... I knew then that I am the luckiest man on Earth.