John and two of the ladies in my class group were talking before class, so I moseyed on over attempting to "be social" in a class for once with my group. Our conversation and 20 questions commenced. Were we really worth each others' time? It came time to sign our group contracts. I insisted John sign our group contract, but he said he had his own. I thought he didn't understand we only needed ONE group contract, so I, of course, enlightened him on this matter. He then stated, "I'm not in your group...Did you think I was in your group?" Oh yes...our cheeks were burning. Humiliated as we were, we changed subjects and carried on. John then became sick and missed the next two classes. Meanwhile, I fretted he was so dismayed and uninterested he had potentially dropped the class. Don't worry! He came back AND asked for my number. We have been inseparable ever since.

Kaci was tricked into thinking her wedding ring was an early Christmas present from my father. I had ordered it a few weeks earlier. When the ring finally showed up I took it out of its shipping box and wrapped the empty shipping box in paper to place under our tree. I had suggested going to hike the very first trail we had ever hiked together and that we have hiked many times since. When we started walking the trail, I felt myself getting more and more nervous. I did not stop, as I usually do many times, to point out small things like saplings, plants, and birds of varying types. Kaci tried to stop a few times and I hurried her along to our destination point, the end of the peninsula to get a geode or two. We finally reached the beachhead the sky was blue and the clouds were white. Kaci turned to walk away to find a place to take a picture and I took a knee. I said, "Look at this rock I found. I want to spend the rest of my life together with you, will you marry me?" She responded immediately, "John you son of a bitch you got me. Yes". We cried together and sat on the beach looking out over the water. It was a wonderful day.