The very first time Ryan and I met was on his first day of work. I was in the lunchroom and he was being given a tour of the office. My best friend's mom was the recruiter at the time and introduced us. I remember immediately thinking "He's cute, I'll Facebook stalk him later." Little did I know that Ryan has never had an interest in social media and I wouldn't be able to track him down. A few years later, I needed help with a work project from his department. We had chatted once or twice and so I felt comfortable asking him to help me. It wasn't his area of expertise so he had another co-worker assist me. When I got back to my desk, I sent him an email saying that since he had been "so helpful", he owed me lunch. He immediately agreed, gave me his phone number to text him when I was ready to go, and the rest is history.

One Sunday, Ryan suggested that we take our dogs to the dog park. The weather was gorgeous and the dogs needed some exercise. Our dog park has a beautiful off-leash wooded area with multiple trails and that's where we headed. Once inside, we started walking around and we passed an older couple that was holding hands. I immediately reached for Ryan's hand, but he had it balled up in a fist. I couldn't understand why he wasn't letting me hold his hand until he opened it and pulled out the ring and asked me to marry him. Little did I know that he had been holding onto the ring for a few months and taking it with him on a few occasions, just waiting for the perfect time to propose.