It’s a tale as old as time. Boy meets girl the first weekend of college because they are wearing the same tank top, boy awkwardly tries to flirt with girl, girl rejects boy, girl makes fun of him for using too many smiley emojis and then they don’t talk for four years. But all good things come to those who wait, and one pint night and one broken ankle later, we were brought together. Erin was quickly exposed to my array of sweet skills (i.e. booty drops, line dancing, and karaoke), and simply couldn’t resist. Following weeks of wooing and sweet Salem dates, I finally convinced Erin to make things official. After graduation and 5 months of dating we decided to really test our patience and spend two weeks in a car together on a road trip through a heapin helpin of national parks. Half way through our 3,500 mile journey we found ourselves at the Grand Canyon. With tensions at an all time high… an exponential growth in the number of my gray hairs… and at least 4 hours of silence following arguments on what podcast to play… I looked at Erin and realized that I was in one of the most beautiful places in the world with the most beautiful girl I’d ever met. Smooth like melted butter, I told her for the first time that I loved her. This was just the start of all the adventures we would have over the next 4 years. Whether it was moving to San Francisco, raising Gus the (always energetic, and occasionally destructive) golden retriever, or temporarily living out of a hotel we’ve taken on all of these challenges as a team. After all of this I realized I couldn’t imagine taking on any other adventures without Erin by my side, so I put a ring on it.

Wise people have said, if you fail to plan you plan to fail... and I agree. But, if you plan 6 months in advance of the big ask, you plan to have 180 days of stress dreams and sleepless nights. Each step of the way Erin tried to ruin the surprise, but thanks to both our families it was somehow kept a secret. I asked Erin’s parents for their blessing (not permission because this isn’t 14th century Europe and I’m not requesting a goat and 4 loaves of bread as a dowry) in early fall and after lots of tears (mostly from Jon) I got to finalizing the plan. Like all good plans I started the deception early. I told Erin that we had to go to Depoe Bay, OR in February for my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary (jokes on her because it would have actually been their 65th). After a crazy number of fake plans we began the drive from California to Oregon on February 9th... THE DAY THE QUESTION WOULD BE POPPED. When we eventually arrived in Lincoln City, I made an excuse to detour to the exact same beach where we spent our first Valentines together (this is also where we both wanted to say I love you for the first time but it was only like 2 months in and we aren’t psychos). After letting Gus run around for a bit and a few silent self motivational speeches I got down on one knee and asked Erin to spend the rest of her life with me. She said yes and now you’re forced to read a mini essay about our love.