It was fall 2016. We were both their second year of graduate school pursuing Masters in Public Administration degrees. Nicole was at Northern Illinois University and John at Wichita State. On September 25th, We both arrived in Kansas City for the International City/County Management Association Conference. John was excited about the conference as it was his first time attending. Nicole was too, but couldn't help wishing it was in a more "exciting" place like last year in Seattle. That night, We went to a young professionals mixer with our respective classmates. While socializing Nicole spotted John from the other side of the room and she recognized him, but couldn't place him. Nicole continued chatting while she thought about it. Finally, it hit her. Back in fall of 2014, John messaged Nicole on LinkedIn asking her about her internship at the time. John was soon to be graduating from college and was looking for a similar opportunity. Nicole politely responded back and never thought about it again until that day. When Nicole realized the guy (John) on the other side of the room was the guy who messaged her on LinkedIn, she knew she had a wonderful excuse to go over and introduce herself to a tall, handsome guy. Still in conversation with others, Nicole contemplated going over and striking up a conversation with John. She did not want to come on as a creep. After explaining the situation to a couple of classmates while drinking a second glass of wine, she finally decided to go for it. From the very first reintroduction, we hit it off. After spending time together for the next few days during conference we said we would stay in touch. And that we did. Just a few weeks later, John came to Chicago for a weekend to visit a couple of friends and see Nicole. At the end of the weekend, we decided to start dating and the rest is history. P.S. Needless to say the Kansas City conference surpassed Seattle for Nicole and she retracted all previous statements.

On May 16, 2017, John came over to the Kathman house to hang out with Nicole after work. Soon after he came, John asked Nicole if she wanted to go downtown St. Paul to go for a walk. Thinking nothing of it (as this is something they had done multiple times), we headed out. After finding a parking spot, we walked towards one of our favorite places in downtown St. Paul- to the park along Kellogg Blvd overlooking the Mississippi River and Harriet Island. Along the way, Nicole asked John why he was so anxious waiting to cross the street to the park. Not too long after she knew. It was there he proposed- a significant spot not only because of the gorgeous view, but the location of our first date in Minnesota.