It’s about to get Funke in here!!

We didn’t actually meet for the first time when we went on our first date! Aside from all of the other times we unknowingly bumped into each other at campus events we first met the day before our we said we would go on our date! Gabrielle invited me to one of our local late night dinners after a long day/night of working on a project. I was so stressed and nervous but just so excited! We met and then have been basically inseparable since.

We were spending some time together at Gabrielle’s apartment laughing and talking like we did every night. When she very suddenly said “Can you take me to Walmart?” Well being someone who can’t say no to strange requests and late night adventures I said “sure!” And off we went! She went inside the store for a while and finally emerged again with the bag full of her unknown items held tight to her chest. She slipped back into the car and handed me her phone and on it was a TikTok of a man using every day house hold items to make a giant candy ring pop! At the end of the video he looks to the camera and asks will you be “my girlfriend?” I was in awe that he came up with that cute video and looked to hand Gabrielle her phone back. That’s when I saw that she had a ring pop of her own that she had taken out of the wrapper while I was focusing on the video. She smiled at me and asked again, “Will you be my girlfriend?” And I couldn’t believe it, genuinely it took me so long to even process that she had asked me that. “YES!” I finally exclaimed! And we have been together ever since! I learned later that she had that video saved on her phone for a while and even said “I’ve known that I needed to lock you down before anyone else.” Through thick and thin I wouldn’t change the start we had for anything!

The day started quietly with coffee and last minute prep for the day we had planned! Gabrielle was completely unaware of the massive scavenger hunt we were about to embark on and it was extremely hard to keep my nerves and excitement to an inconspicuous level. Each stop we had planned was one that was significant to us in some way, a park we went on our first dates to, a coffee shop we both loved, a workshop that has been a part of my life since as long as I can remember, and finally the place I planned to ask her. For each stop we made she also received a bag with a picture I drew on it and a message for her to read and a gift or tool we needed for the activity we were doing at the time. We made spoon rings in the forge at the work shop, and go shopping, and eat amazing food and at our last stop she got a bag with two ring pops drawn on it. She read the message I left on the bag and looked inside. “There isn’t anything in this one”, she said confused. “Well..” I said very nervously. I got down on one knee and through a shaky voice I asked “ Will you marry me?” Through tears and happy laughs she said yes!!

Our energy was buzzing!! Not only is it Valentine’s Day but also we are going to see Kacey Musgraves! She is on of our favorite artists and this is her great return to touring! We got to the venue a bit earlier than the doors opening and parked our smart car (Tulula!!). Gabrielle ran around to my side of the car and opened my door for me and as we got out of the car she pulls out a speaker and smiles! “I looked at the set list and tried to see if she would be playing our song tonight.” She says and continues, “I wasn’t able to see for sure so I brought this for us to listen to it before we go in!” She turns on our song and immediately I can’t help but start to sway to the beat. She reached into her pocket and pulls out a ring pop candy. “Here, a snack too before we go in.” I look down and take the candy and open it up but find the ring pop is not made of candy but a ring pop shaped box! I opened to top of the box to see a ring!! As I looked back at Gabrielle she was on her knee with her hand out. With tears forming in my eyes I quickly handed her the box and she opened it and took out the ring. She proposed, I said yes of course and she placed the ring on my finger! We laughed and danced to the song as it finished. Best concert ever for sure!