Yes as cliche as it sounds, we both swiped right. After a few weeks of talking, Shane convinced me to go on our first date. We went to dinner at a local place called Barbara Jean's.. on a Sunday. This was a feat in itself considering I didn't do much on Sunday's since I had to get ready for the week of teaching. Shane had told me just a few days prior that he got a baseball assignment to go work Winter Ball, which would require him to leave for 4 months. I knew that if I wanted to meet this man I had to do it soon so I said yes to the date! After dinner we went and got frozen yogurt and spent time talking about everything from childhood, to school, to career choices, and what this baseball assignment was going to be like. He told me I needed to download some messaging app if I wanted to continue talking to him while he was gone. I was thinking, "What have I gotten myself into?" I agreed to download the app so I could continue to get to know him and that was how the next 4 months of our story unfolded, messaging back and forth. When he got back from the assignment we began dating and a lot of it is history. We grew together as a couple and our relationship strengthened over time. I think I can speak for both of us when I say "I'm glad you swiped right!"
After much planning, the big day finally came. My mother and brother were with Haley and I, and the story I had told everyone was that we were doing a surprise activity for my brother's Christmas present. We all got in to the car and on the way to our destination I gave them clues as to where we were going to go. Based on what I had previously told Haley she needed to wear, she guessed we were going to go ice skating and man was she set on ice skating. My brother on the other hand guessed IFLY which I pretended to know nothing about. As we drove towards the Town Center everyone realized we were going to IFLY and I could tell Haley wasn't sold on the idea. She looked at my mom and said she would only do it if my mom would do it. Sure enough my mom was all about it and although Haley was very nervous we made our way inside. To make matters worse, Haley had previously had shoulder surgery and once she selected that on the liability waiver she had to get the OK from the instructor to fly. I panicked because her flying was a part of the proposal plan. She had to fly! We got the okay and off she went. As her flight ended she looked at the TV screen which read "Marry Me?" and there I was on one knee outside of the wind tunnel. I am not sure if she heard the words of my proposal but after much nodding she said YES and gave me a kiss, helmets on and all, and here we are planning our wedding!