Our story begins with Michael being late to our first date and getting a speeding camera ticket. Ok, that's a great start to a story, but actually... Our story begins with me hiring his mom as a circulation clerk at the Solon library. Before Michael and I became "Michael and I," I was Angie's boss, and then she and I became friends. Angie was always dropping hints about how much her son and I had in common, and we finally had an opportunity to meet in person: I had arranged a work outing for our department at Melt in Independence (RIP). There were originally going to be eight of us going, but Melt required a ten-person minimum for a reservation. So I texted Angie and said, "Bring the boys!" At dinner, she sat between Michael and I. I had no idea what to talk to him about, so I mostly made conversation with my coworkers. He must not have known what to say either, because he asked the server to change the TV channel to a specific football game! I figured he either didn't know she was trying to set us up, or he wasn't at all interested, so I left that night and put him out of my mind... mostly. A few months later, Angie's youngest Mya graduated from highschool and I was invited to the graduation party. After meeting with some of Angie's family and socializing with our coworkers who were also invited, Cecelia took me under her wing and invited me to play beer pong with some of her and Michael's friends. For the first round, Michael was off to the side, but he seemed engrossed in conversation with a friend at the time. We played another round later in the afternoon -- this time, Michael asked me to be his partner. I don't remember much about the actual game, but I could probably tell you in detail about every time our fingers brushed, handing the ball back and forth. The party was coming to a close, and I needed to head home. Since my car was parked on the street a few houses down, Michael offered to walk me to my car. I thought that was very sweet... and agonized over what it meant for days! The day after the party, Angie and Bill left on vacation, so I didn't have a chance to get her thoughts on it until she came back to work. When Angie came back to work, she and I were unpacking the delivery for the day when I came across a video game that had arrived for Michael. It was kismet -- I put a handwritten note inside the case, basically asking him out and including my phone number. I thought: she'll take it home and he'll see my note. He'll either call me or he won't. Well, fate had different plans for that day. Not even knowing that his video game had come in, Michael stopped in to visit Angie at work, bringing Mya along with him. (Angie swears she didn't set this up.) I am embarrassed to say, dear reader, that I panicked. I thought he'd see the note right then and there, and I looked around for the nearest sinkhole to swallow me up. Since that didn't happen, I made excuses for being "extraordinarily busy" -- and basically ran away and hid in my office until they left. After I realized what a fool I made of myself, I thought there was no way he'd reach out to me, so I doubled down on my embarrassment and messaged him on Instagram. To my complete surprise, he thought the note was cute, and he wanted to get to know me. We continued texting, and set up our first date for a couple days later. I can't remember when he fessed up about the speeding ticket. I only had one question for him -- was it on the way to the date, or was the date so awful that he was speeding away from it? Spoiler alert -- he gave the right answer, and the rest is history.

The first time I really interacted with Brianna was at a work outing my mom invited me to at Melt. I didn't really know anyone there and tried to jump into some of the conversations, but I really only remember the Sea Dragons game was on TV. Later that year at my sister Mya's graduation party, I actually recognized and talked to Brianna. We played beer pong (we were both a little rusty), had some snacks and I walked her to her car when she left. A little bit after that, I wanted to try out this cafe in solon and go to the bin store so I took Mya along with me. We decided to stop by and say hi to Mom after since we were just down the street. When we were there I went to the front desk where her and Brianna were. I said hi, and Brianna seemed a little flustered and said an important library person was there and she had to look busy. Immediately she started going through a filing cabinet under the desk, and my mom said that the video games I ordered (Jedi Survivor, and Hogwarts Legacy) came in. I took my stuff and went home. I quickly opened the games so they could both update, and inside Hogwarts Legacy was a note from Brianna, with a phone number, saying that I'll have to tell her how the game is, and asking if we can catch a baseball game some time. I quickly texted back, after first talking on Instagram, and we set up a date. It was a very rainy day, and I quickly left work, changed my clothes, and started driving over. I was running a little late and may have gotten caught by a speed camera, but it was definitely worth it in the end. We met at the Winking Lizard, just a few hundred feet from where we first sort of met. After a few more dates and time spent together, we got around to going to the baseball game mentioned in the note. At the end of the night, Brianna dropped me off at home, and on the steps leading up to the side door that night is when I first said "I love you." Fast forward through many dates, trips, holidays, along with laid back days at home spent working jigsaw puzzles, watching movies, or playing video games, and we reach the whole reason we're here -- on Thanksgiving eve in that same spot, I asked her to marry me.