After visiting the Chicagoland area many times as a kid, I fell in love with the city and decided to take the leap and move from St. Paul, Minnesota to Chicago, Illinois. After a week of living in my new apartment, I invited my cousin Haley to come over and visit. Haley asked if she could invite some of the “Glenview boys” over. Not knowing who or what that meant, I was happy to meet new people. About five boys walked into my apartment that night, one of them being Connor. Did Connor and I talk a lot that very first night? No, not at all. But did I remember Connor being the only one to ask politely if he could have some chips that were on the table while his friends dug in? I sure did. About a month later it was St. Patrick’s Day weekend and Haley invited me out to a day party in Wrigleyville (big shout out to Haley!). Lots of people were there, but I remembered the “Glenview boys” and started conversations with them, specifically Connor. As the night went on and people started doing their own thing, Connor and I stayed side by side. And with what may have been some liquid courage, Connor asked me out to dinner and I said Yes! So on March 17th, 2021, St. Patrick’s Day, we sat down at a restaurant, ordered a couple pints of Guinness and the rest is history.

The proposal story begins with the ring. The hardest part was finding the time to sneak away and get it made. I finally got the time when Angie was on a trip in Europe, where I was able to head downtown and pick out the diamond and design. A few weeks later, it was time to pick it up. Once again, I had to come up with a cover story to sneak away. I told Angie that I was going to a meeting about being a Teaching Assistant for a class at DePaul, since the jeweler was near the DePaul Campus. Now that the ring was picked up, it was time to plan the proposal. I had known that Angie preferred a private and intimate engagement rather than somewhere in public, so I planned to propose in our apartment. The days before consisted of getting rose petals, champagne, and planning. On July 24th, 2024, we went to dinner at Willow Room. While we were gone, I had my brother run to our apartment and set everything up. He set out candles, spread rose petals, and put out the champagne in an ice bucket. Our Uber ride home had my heart racing out of excitement and nerves. Once we arrived home, Angie said to me while laughing “what is happening?”. I grabbed the hidden ring from my desk, and we went into the family room. I told Angie how much she meant to me and how much I loved her. I told her how I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. Thankfully she said Yes! It was one of the best days of my life.