Houston was in a celebratory mood on July 20th last year, 50 years to the day after Neil first set foot on the moon. I was excited for a different reason; Katie and I were going to meet over Mexican food. My good feelings were confirmed when she walked in the door when I noticed that, not only was she shockingly beautiful, both of us wore red, white, and blue to celebrate the moon landing. After seven hours of nonstop conversation I was smitten. While our first messages to each other were about Mexican food, the second ones were about the Astros. Our second date was a few days later at Minute Maid Park. The place was aBuzz, probably because the crowd knew something special was happening in Section 107, Row 23, Seats 7&8. That was the first of several Astros dates, the first time sharing tacos, and the first time time holding hands. The first kiss followed in a very romantic parking garage not long afterwards. I was more smitten. Katie, however, took a little more convincing. I gave her a Collins to set up a third date; she said yes but was thinking to herself that there might not be a fourth. The dinner was fun (Mexican again), but the escape room was the highlight. We escaped in under an hour; better yet, that's where I escaped the Friend Zone. Soon there was a fourth date...and a fifth...and before long too many to count. Our relationship had blasted off!

The date was set: March 21st. Plans were made, secret arrangements put in place, everything needed for a perfect proposal...and then COVID happened. Plan A fell through. Plan B failed soon thereafter. Who knew that an impromptu Plan C would become the best one of all? It was a cold morning and threatening rain; that didn't stop Katie from eagerly agreeing to go on a picnic in the park. The first stop was Spec's, a Texas version of Total Wine with a large fine foods section in the back, where we made our own picnic of sandwiches and charcuterie with a bottle of champagne for dessert. I secretly stuffed all of it into the one picnic surprise I could muster - the picnic basket we'd been talking about buying for months. And yes, the still-unsuspecting Katie teared up when she saw it. We made our spread at the Miller Outdoor Theater in Hermann Park. It was empty after the first week of quarantine save for a few joggers and a father/son flying a kite in the background. A song on Katie's playlist directed conversation to what our hypothetical wedding would look like; I suggested having a slideshow at the reception, giving me the perfect opportunity to pull an iPad out of the basket. We scrolled through a series of pictures of us, each one giving me the chance to tell Katie something I loved or appreciated about her and our relationship. The still-unsuspecting Katie countered that we should use her pictures instead since they had filters. That changed when I pulled out souvenirs from our first three dates. Tears began flowing as I stood her up, got down on one knee, said some things that neither of us remember, and slid a ring on her finger when she said yes. We were so lucky that the father flying a kite took a picture of that moment! Our cheeks were so sore from smiling that we could barely eat our Italian takeout that night. You'd think I'd be used to that feeling...I'd been smiling since I met Katie and have no doubt we'll keep smiling through our years together.