E & J

Here is the story of how we met, fell in love, and the proposal from each of our perspectives... You decide whose perspective is correct :)

I was working at the MSUM Wellness Center when she walked in and started talking to a mutual friend and me. She was wearing black-and-white Air Force Ones, so naturally I threw out a smooth compliment about her shoes. She told me she had an even cooler pair at home, and I said I was intrigued. She snapped me a picture later and… they were alright. I worked out every morning at 6:30 am that year and had never once seen her there that early. But once we started talking, suddenly she was a morning gym person. Weird. One day, I couldn’t make my usual morning workout, so I went around dinnertime, and guess who “just happened” to show up. After I finished, I was starving and, as a college student who didn’t know how to cook, planned to grab a burrito. I asked if she wanted to come, and as the fiscally responsible gentleman I am, I paid… which officially made it a date. A few days later, she invited me over for enchiladas. That was the first and last time she has ever cooked for me. Soon after, she started nerding out about Harry Potter, so we watched the first movie together. She said I needed to watch the rest with her. I used to be a Harry Potter hater, but honestly? They’re pretty good. She kept following me to the gym every day, and we bonded over basketball. We went to a lot of MSUM Dragon games together. Then one morning, after she didn’t show up to the gym, she FaceTimed me as I was walking to my car and asked my favorite question: “What are we?” With my incredible way with words, I responded, “I don’t know… do you want to be my girlfriend?” She couldn’t resist that kind of charisma, and the rest is history.

It was Christmas break of my senior year at MSUM, and I’d finally decided to hang up my running shoes. I decided it was time to try working out at the MSUM Wellness Center. If you know me, you know I’m an anxious girly, and walking into a new gym alone is my worst nightmare. So naturally, Day 1: I sat in my car for ten minutes and then went home. Day 2: Same thing. Day 3: I finally made myself check in and go find a treadmill so I could pretend I wasn’t panicking. Walking upstairs, I spotted my friend Isaac working the desk with another guy, Ethan. I hadn’t seen Isaac since Homecoming, so I was excited to see him and went over to say hi. I also recognized Ethan from homecoming, where we’d briefly argued about one of his friends being mean to my roommate (great first meeting). While Isaac and I caught up, Ethan complimented my shoes. I made sure he knew I had an even cooler pair at home. Later that night, I sent him a Snapchat of the other shoes. To this day, we’re not sure who added who on Snap, but we assume it was on the day we were arguing at homecoming. Once that first day was behind me, the Welly didn’t feel so scary. My new spring semester routine lined up with Ethan’s work schedule, so we talked a little every day. Then my schedule changed, and I started going in the mornings, which just so happened to be the time he typically went to the gym. I was very much in my “independent girly who does not need a man” phase and insisted to everyone that Ethan was just my best guy friend. One afternoon, we both ended up at the gym later in the day. When we finished, he asked if I wanted to get food. I didn’t consider it a date, but we went to Pancheros, and he paid. From then on, we went to a TON of MSUM basketball games together, I invited him over to try my cooking (an attempt at enchiladas), and he came over to watch Harry Potter with me. One morning, I went to work out with the track team at their practice. I was with two of my good friends, who asked if I liked “this guy” I was always with. I said, “Of course, he’s my best friend,” and their faces told me everything. That’s when it clicked…I may have liked him more than a friend. I went straight to the locker room and FaceTimed him. He was so confused why I was calling him, of course, so I ripped the band-aid off and asked the stereotypical question, “What are we?” and his response was, “I don’t know, I guess I just assumed you were my girlfriend.” I proceeded to tell him this is not how that worked, and he needed to ask me. He decided over FaceTime to ask if I’d be his girlfriend, and the rest is history, I guess.

There wasn’t a single lightning-bolt moment. It was the accumulation of shared interests, values, and experiences. We’ve been through good times and tough ones, and we’ve never wavered. She’s always working to better herself, and that’s something I truly admire. We choose each other, every single day. So when she brought up the idea of engagement, it was an easy answer.

There wasn’t a day/time/place that I knew Ethan was the one. He is my best friend, the perfect balance of calm to my chaos, and he fits in seamlessly with my family. I think the biggest sign that made me think, “he might be the one,” is how “easy” our relationship has always felt. I would not say we’ve had it easy, as we’ve been through plenty together the last 4 years- both of us graduating college, me having to survive graduate school, starting our careers, navigating the transition of living together, and more. But despite all the changes we’ve experienced together, there has never been a day I felt like he wasn’t my biggest supporter. Our communication, trust, and similar priorities and values have made him the perfect person to spend the rest of my life with.

Jensen gave me a book roughly the length of the Bible detailing the requirements for the proposal. Then she got mad when I didn’t pull it off within a week. I have to give all the credit to Kendal, Logan, Cindy, and Wade—they did the real heavy lifting, especially the lying to Jensen part. If you know her, you know she’s basically Batman when it comes to detecting secrets. One of her non-negotiables was having her family around. With Kendal in Kansas, that complicated things. She also wanted photos. So I came up with a plan: her sisters would schedule “sister pictures,” and thankfully, Logan’s friend Addi agreed to be the photographer. After planning everything with Kendal and Logan and picking up the ring, I was ready. Her sisters found the perfect spot, and Cindy picked out a great blanket. I grabbed flowers, and Wade dropped me off so Jensen wouldn’t see my car and get suspicious. I planned to wait about 30 minutes. Instead, I waited two hours...not awkward at all, while multiple people walked by wondering why a random guy was standing alone in the woods with a blanket and a quarter-zip. A couple of older folks even stopped to chat and then decided to hang around to witness the proposal. Finally, as the girls approached, Kendal and Logan told Jensen to walk down the path toward me. She refused at first: “Ew, no, there’s a man down there. I’m not going down there.” Same man she was about to get engaged to, by the way. Thankfully, they convinced her. She walked down the path, saw me, and, believe it or not, she said yes.

I only gave Ethan two suggestions for his proposal: I wanted my family nearby, and I wanted a picture of the moment. Easy enough. A few weeks earlier, my sister Logan and her friend Addi (who is not a photographer) suggested taking “sister pictures” because Addi wanted “practice.” Kendal was coming home for Easter, so we scheduled it for that weekend. The morning of, I got ready for a friend’s bridal shower while Ethan was supposedly golfing. When I took too long, he came in to tell me golf was cancelled because Jake’s dog had eaten ibuprofen. I didn’t question it. At the shower, I sat with my mom, my sisters, and our friend Janae, talking nonstop about how badly I wanted to be engaged. I thought they were annoyed because I wouldn’t shut up; turns out, they were annoyed because every single one of them knew it was happening that afternoon and had to lie to me. After the shower, Logan and I headed to the “photo shoot.” I called Ethan to see what he was doing, and he told me he was getting groceries—meanwhile, he was actually in the car with my dad heading to the proposal spot. We spent almost two hours taking pictures around the park, and I was loving it. It was supposed to be a quick loop… but my love for pictures turned it into a whole production. Meanwhile, poor Ethan (who had been dropped off early to avoid me spotting his car) ended up standing at his spot for almost three hours waiting for me. As we neared the parking lot to leave, Logan said, “One more cute spot down this trail!” I looked and saw a man standing alone and said, “Absolutely not, there’s a creepy guy down there.” They somehow convinced me, and as we got closer, the “creepy guy” turned into Ethan. I screamed, ran toward him, and he proposed. My sisters came running with the whole story: my dad drove Ethan so I wouldn’t see his car, my mom bought the blanket he stood on, Logan and Kendal walked the trail the day before to plan the perfect spot, and Addi pretended to be a photographer just to get me there. And Kendal (who had the worst week of her college career and had her car break down) bought a last-minute plane ticket because she knew I wouldn’t go along with it unless she was home. She wasn’t coming home for Easter—she was coming home for me. It was perfect, and I’m forever grateful… and sorry to everyone at that bridal shower who had to listen to me talk about wanting to be engaged the whole time :)