[Isaiah and I have known each other for most of our lives, but it wasn’t until after high school that I would say we really got to know each other. I was that girl in high school who swore to never date him because I knew that every other girl had a crush on him. Clearly that didn’t go as planned. Being best friends with his sister also made me concerned because I didn’t want that to be lost or become awkward.] It was the day of my brother’s state track meet and I went up to Charleston to watch him. Casually I flipped through the program and noticed the previous years 4x8 team. Isaiah was the only guy I kind of knew that I could say something about it to. Later that night we had Cabin which is a high school youth group led by Northfield on Saturday nights. I went to the after party, which was pretty rare, and he was there. As I left, I decided to mention that his 4x8 team’s picture was in the program. I didn’t have a picture of it with me, so he told me to send it to him. For some reason I already had his number and sent him the picture when I got home. That night we talked a little bit not much. From then on for a couple weeks we talked on and off. I suddenly became interested, but didn’t know if the feelings were mutual or if Isaiah was just being nice (because that was normal ;) ). So we continued talking for several weeks continuing to get to know each other. Then on a Tuesday night after the Ridge, I rode home with him and convinced him to stay at the track and run with me. I was conveniently locked out of my car forcing us to talk, which isn't hard for Isaiah ;) I sat against my car and Isaiah casually laid on his trunk and nonchalantly looked in my direction and said, “do you want to go on a date with me.” Caught off guard I replied with, “yeah, sure.” We awkwardly said goodbye and left.

We had a date planned for Friday night and it inconveniently got pushed back to Saturday for multiple reasons that couldn’t be said at the time. From two weeks of dating I had a feeling that I would marry Isaiah, but I didn’t really share. I knew the proposal was coming eventually, but didn’t expect it yet. Saturday night (the same day of my brothers state track meet one year later) we went on our date. I thought it was like any other date, but still special. We went out to eat which was followed by our annual walk around Bass Pro. We had planned on going stargazing at the tower where he had everything set up for the proposal. When it got dark we headed back to the tower where he told me to wait while he turned on the lights. I thought “he could be proposing,” but instantly pushed aside the thought since it had been my idea to put the lights up on the tower. He had it all decorated with lights, pictures, candles, a sleeping bag, and pillows. We reflected on our past year and danced to a song that I really liked. After the song he asked to read a note that I had written on the back of a picture frame which I gave him at five months. Instead of turning around with the picture, he turned around with a ring in his hand and said some super sweet words followed by, “will you marry me?” I responded with “Is this for realz?” He said, “Can you say yes?” I said, “YES, OF COURSE!” Then the rest is history.