We're so excited to celebrate with you!

I was out for a night downtown with my sister Katie and friend Kalina, joined by Kalina's husband Walt, to celebrate my return from my short study abroad in Italy. It just so happened that Walt's MSOE baseball teammate Dave was also out that night at the same bar. Following Kalina's gentle nudging she introduced me to Dave. She had actually wanted to set me up with Dave many months before so I was already familiar with all of his Facebook pictures of family, hockey, and fishing. After chatting about our similarities of both being from Michigan, and learning that Dave has actually been to the UP near my hometown to bird hunt, we all decided to end the night. We said our good-byes and parted for home. As fate would have it, Dave passed by my car on his way back to the bar to close out his tab. I offered to give him a ride even though it was a short block back. Without his credit card, or a charged phone, he made the smooth move of asking me if he could give me his number. Lucky for him it worked, and I found my best friend.

In the fall of 2019, I secretly asked her parents for permission to marry their daughter. By January 2020, I had bought a ring and by that March, we were boarding a plane headed on an impromptu trip to Florida. Our plan: escape a Midwest winter, visit Andrea's grandparents and our friends Lucas and Emma, and enjoy the sunshine and the beaches. One last part of the plan that only I knew about; ask my best friend to marry me! On the second to last day of our trip, after spending the day with Emma and Lucas, we took a short hike through the Everglades near Naples, Florida. I told Andrea it was so we could look for an alligator, but the real reason was a secret. We actually did find an alligator, to my delight and Andrea's slight terror (ask us about our reactions). I was undeterred. Before ending the hike, I popped the question that I had been thinking about for nearly a year. If someone was there to have seen it, just one picture would have told the whole story. Down a straight section of the boardwalk, surrounded by the sights and sounds of the Everglades, I was on one knee asking Andrea to marry me. As you know by now, she said YES! It was unexpected, but beautiful and perfect, just like my new fiance!