The story starts on New Year's Eve 2017 when a couple of friends (shoutout Nate and Rosie) convinced us to trek up to Minneapolis for a concert. Since I was coming from Milwaukee with Nate, we stopped in Madison to pick up Rosie and one of her friends. Lauren ended up being that friend. That road trip was filled with laughs and inside jokes that were too good to leave at a one-time encounter. After getting back to Madison, it took a few months to work up the courage to ask her out, but we never looked back once I did. We will never forget our first date at the local Mexican restaurant when the waiter tried to put out the candle keeping the fajitas warm and set a whole roll of napkins on fire. We didn't realize then that those laughs would be the first of many. After that, we were inseparable, spending all the time we could together, which admittedly wasn't a lot as I finished law school and Lauren traveled all over the country while working at Epic. That changed in the Spring of 2020 when COVID slowed everything down, and Lauren suggested we live together at her place for a few months. Then, when seemingly every person in the world was leaving New York City, I had the bright idea to move there. After three years of great food, great friends, and lots more concerts we decided it was time to move back to Wisconsin. Today we live In the Bay View neighborhood of Milwaukee with our rambunctious puppy, Charlotte.

When I thought of proposing I knew that in a perfect world I wanted to do it in Hawaii, but that always seemed like just a dream. Then, in the fall of 2022, Lauren got staffed on a project that was sending her to Honolulu and asked me if I wanted to come with her. I mean who turns down a free trip to Hawaii? Come the big day, I take Lauren to her family's favorite beach on the windward side of O'ahu for sunset. Lauren, in classic Lauren fashion, starts asking every question under the sun. Why do I need to dress up tonight? Can't we go to dinner another night? Why are you bringing a backpack to the beach? Should I bring a swimsuit? After wading through the minefield of questions, we finally got to the beach and the right spot. As the sun went down over the crystal blue Pacific water, I asked Lauren to spend the rest of our lives together, and I'll never forget the smile on her face when she said… "oh my god, the ring box is so nice" and then later, "yes", making me the happiest man on earth.