"Let down your guard and let people into your life, even if it's only for a moment. Because when you let someone in, and it's the right person, it has the power to change you forever" - unknown I had moved down to Charlotte about 8 or 9 months prior to this night, and just like most weekend nights, I was out with the guys. We were on a rooftop balcony at the lovely Irish bar & restaurant, RiRa’s, when Kara and I first met. There are two key people here (Max & Meg Brooke) who both claim to be the sole person responsible for Kara and I meeting, so I will remain unbiased here and let them continue to battle that out. Kara, had been out to dinner with her friend Chris that night and they had decided to grab a post dinner drink at RiRa’s. Max, knowing Chris through his wife Meg, saw them and invited them over to chat and catch up. I started chatting with Kara, and this continued for quite some time. I assumed that Kara was dating this Chris guy, and with my guard completely down and absolutely no hope of dating, I proceeded to tell Kara every single embarrassing story from my life. I guess this made a bit of an impact on Kara, in the best way possible. After a while, the guys and I decided to bid farewell to the “couple” and move on to a club next door. Little did I know, but Chris and Kara would soon follow after. This is the moment everything came together for me, because up to this point, I had been unable to read any signs, interpret body language or have any idea that Kara could possibly be interested in me. I saw Chris dancing with not one, but two ladies on the dance floor, which prompted quite a response to Kara when I ran into her a few moments later. “What the hell! That’s really messed up! And, are you okay?!? In which she replied, “Yeah, I don’t care, he’s not my boyfriend” With my light bulb finally turned on, I asked if she wanted to dance, and we’ve been doing just that every day since.

After a long day at work I got home on Halloween night looking forward to handing out candy to the trick-or-treaters for the first time in our new house. Austin loves Halloween so I thought nothing of it when I saw the giant bowl of candy on the kitchen counter ready to go. I sat down on the couch for a few minutes with Austin catching up. My brother, Doug, had text both of us on my way home asking if we wanted to go to a KMPG happy hour at the brewery across the street from us. Free food and drinks...how could we pass that up! After a few minutes Austin got up saying he needed to bring the trash cans in. It was POURING outside. I told him to just wait till tomorrow so he wouldn’t get soaked. He made up some sly story about the cardboard getting wet and stuck in them. I was quick to respond...fine go get wet if you really want to. No more than a minute after he walked out the front door there was a knock. I thought it might be our first trick-or-treater. I opened the door and it was Austin, holding a pumpkin bucket. “Trick-or-treat!” I looked at him and looked around the porch which he had decorated. I thought it was his sneaky way of getting me to look at the decorations he put up since he was so excited for Halloween. He reaches into the bucket and pulls out a box. WHAT?! I must have said that 5 times....I had no clue! He had finally pulled off the best surprise!! Oh and that KPMG happy hour...was all my family and friends waiting to celebrate the best day ever!