Some time in the warm months of 2010, Katha and Ryan met at a bar party through mutual friends. Over the next two years Katha wormed her way into the group by dating a few other people from that party. A strategy that led them to grow gradually closer and closer. In 2012 Katha started work at the same company as Ryan and they started car pooling to and from work every day. Incapable of sitting in silence, Katha started talking, a lot. Despite his best efforts, Ryan learned quite a bit about Katha and Katha became very accustomed to spending her days hearing that laugh. After many a party where, the very mid-western, Ryan showed up on time but an hour before anyone else, more than a few movie nights, much nudging from nearly everyone who loved them, and one long late night stroll, they finally started dating... in semi-secret. Katha's mom liked Ryan so much that 6 months before Katha and Ryan started dating she once tried to convince EITHER one of her daughters to date Ryan because, "I just think he should be a part of the family!" No one wants to let down Denise, so they decided to keep the relationship a secret until it was on sturdier footing. Two months later they came clean with a text message to Denise that read: "You know that boy you like? Turns out I like him too." Including a photo of them holding hands. You know the rest...
"I've had a few really big proposal ideas bouncing around in my head since [you said you were ready]. One of them was a Zelda-themed scavenger hunt type of thing which ultimately resolved in you destroying patriarchy Gannon. Another simply involved a puppy. There wasn't a whole lot of time to figure out either concept, and I know you're not a "Jumbo-tron girl", so I finally settled on something smaller but still, it needed to be memorable and meaningful. Asking you at the observatory seemed almost perfect. It evokes your love of astronomy, and it compliments our many conversations on how we both conceive of marriage institutionally and personally. It reminds me of our mutual relief over no longer having to date. We have stopped looking. The search is over, but that doesn't mean our curiosity and willingness to learn will ever end. Like the expanding universe, our marriage will never become ordinary, or simple, or completely reflective of anything we've already seen here on Earth. The relationship we've built is boundless, and unstoppable. I've had a lot of conversations with a few of our friends about the engagement ideas, and many of them give me the impression they look at the two of us with the same sense of wonder they experience when they look up at the night sky. What we have is as mind-blowing to them as it is to me, and I'd like it to go on forever. Please accept this [tiny harmonica necklace] engagement totem, both as a place holder for the ring of your choice when we find it, and as a symbol of the fun and extraordinary life we will always have ahead of us. Katha Busk... will you marry me?"