She said "Okay"

Tim and Katarina first met sophomore year of college when they led a retreat together at Rockhurst University. They stayed acquaintances over the first few months of planning the retreat, but started getting to know each other better after the retreat was over. They continued to spend time together through the end of that school year, but neither were interested in starting a relationship before summer break when Tim would go home to Southern California and Katarina would go to Ireland to study abroad. They decided that if they were still interested in each other when they came back to school after being over 5,000 miles and 8 timezones apart for months, they would revisit the idea of dating.

A few months and plenty of late night/early morning Skype calls later, the two were in the same city again and Tim was eager to take Katarina on their first "real" date: a picnic dinner in Loose Park. Tim was nervous and didn't know what kind of food Katarina would want, so he made a little bit of everything and packed it in a basket. After a stroll around the park, they settled down near one of the fountains to eat, but Tim was too nervous to eat anything. Halfway through dinner, Tim asked Katarina if they could be more than friends. Katarina knew what he was asking, but decided to be silly instead and ask if he meant that he wanted to be *best* friends. Tim, not expecting that answer and not liking it either, visibly floundered. While Tim was panicking, Katarina corrected the suggestion to MEGA best friends. One of them thought that was funny. The other was Tim. After rephrasing to a more direct question, Katarina happily agreed to be Tim's girlfriend. This kind of banter would become a hallmark of their relationship.

On the first Friday of November, Katarina surprised Tim by taking the day off to spend the day exploring Kansas City. They started the day with cider and donuts at Louisberg Cider Mill, then headed to the city for an afternoon downtown where they explored a rooftop park, rode the streetcar, and ended up at the downtown library. Tim, planning to propose on the roof of the library, suggested they see the view from the roof. Katarina, knowing there was a life-size chess set on the roof, immediately derailed Tim’s plan by challenging him to a match. After an entire chess match, there was now a small collection of people on the roof. Wanting a more private proposal, Tim hoped to wait them out. But Katarina had already walked inside and called the elevator. Tim did not have a backup plan. The plan was the roof and Katarina was no longer on the roof. So Tim had to think fast and suggested they stop on the second floor where there was a secluded alcove with an antique bookshelf full of poetry. While Katarina was traipsing about, Tim attempted to corral her over to the bookshelf. When Katarina finally joined him and started looking at the titles on display, Tim asked Katarina if she would continue writing their story together. Katarina, not realizing what was happening, was busy thinking of a witty response when she turned to Tim and saw that he was down on one knee. Tim asked her to marry him and Katarina squeaked and backed away in shock. Tim, still on one knee and waiting for an answer, held the ring out further and asked, "Do you want to put this on?" Katarina nodded and whispered, "Okay." (Katarina is bad at surprises.) Tim, having noticed a security camera above the bookshelf after he proposed, went back to the library the next week and was able to get a few CCTV stills of the proposal. Head over to our photos tab to see those pictures!