We're Getting Married!

We met online, like so many couples do. The app we were on let us know we had a lot of "friends" in common, from high school and college. We had our first coffee date July 5th 2015. It went well (obviously) and as Amelia headed back to her Master's program in Champaign IL, I stayed in Evansville and we agreed to stay in touch and not let our moment die! For almost a year we were traveling back and forth to see each other for weekends at a time. The long Christmas break gave us our first taste of more than just 3 days together. As Niles headed over to St. Louis to pick up Peter from college, he dropped me off at the train station and I headed up to Champaign. The experiment was a success and we stilled loved each other after almost 2 weeks. Amelia graduated early, Dec 2015 with her degree and in March of 2016 moved back to the Evansville area with a full time job. I was thrilled after all the long distance and our relationship thrived! It was a delightful year. In April 2017 merging company circumstances had Amelia seeking other potential jobs and we discussed Indianapolis as our future city. She was promptly hired and moved in with friends for the next 2 years. I visited a lot and loved the chance to get to know everyone.

Early in 2018 we both agreed that we wanted the special surprise of our partner asking for our hand in marriage so we agreed on a starting date for that. I started calling it "Open Season" and it was to begin September 1st. Amelia had me completely fooled and I had no idea she was ready to go first day. September 1st 2018 she surprised me and asked me to marry her. She took me (and Willie as a cover) on a walk by the river where we had our first date. Using the rhyme "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" she asked me with: a scrapbook of our memories so far, a new cake topper for a wedding cake, her mother's Precious Moments wedding snowglobe, and then serenaded me on a blue ukelele with the song "Can't Help Falling In Love." I cried a bunch, happy tears. Melisa, Amelia's mother, was there to catch it all on camera. Willie had no idea his walk was going to be so special. Now that the element of surprise was gone, I decided to go a little bigger and splashy instead of strictly sweet and romantic. Amelia loves penguins and I knew exactly what I wanted to do. So we went to Shedd Aquarium and went on the special Penguin Experience tour. (I highly recommend, ages 6 and up allowed) They have a special little egg that they hide the ring in and I just popped it open, completely lost track of all the pretty words I had prepared, babbled a bit and started crying at her. Luckily she still said yes and Sparrow the penguin approved. Our friend Abigail was there to take super cute photos once again, and also did a great job.

In May 2019 I moved up to Indianapolis to go house hunting with Amelia and in July we found the house! We live in the Irvington area of Indianapolis and are loving it. The house is a project but it is coming along nicely. The paint colors have mostly been fixed, the holes in the drywall are mostly repaired, but we still have a list of renovations to do! Working together to build our Home has been wonderful. Big shout out to our collective families who have helped furnish much of the house with hand-me-downs and heirlooms. In August 2019 we also adopted our sweet kitty Nessie. Formerly known as Wednesday Adams, she is a beautiful fluffy black cat who rules our hearts. She doesn't know it yet, but now that we have fixed the backyard fence and installed a gate latch, she may be getting a larger sister of the canine variety. We are so excited to share our wedding day with you and start our Happily Ever After!!!