After a year in school of awkwardly knowing each other without ever meeting (as college students do), we officially met at Purdue in the Summer of 2015. That summer, we both decided to stay on campus to take classes on what we thought would be our lifelong profession, air traffic control. Without a car, Tyler relied on Emily's endless generosity to drop him off at home and take him for food during breaks in class. Summer school quickly created a deep friendship and an immense feeling from Emily that Tyler would always be a really important person in her life. True to form, Tyler wasn't thinking that far ahead. Our friendship blossomed over the remaining two years of school where the two of us constantly bonded over Airplanes, Boilermaker athletics, and Country music. While our careers took us to different states and the busyness of life didn't always make it easy, we always stayed in touch and tried to find opportunities to hang out whenever we could. When the pandemic shut down offices in Chicago and created a work from home environment, we saw God's perfect timing and the opportunity to turn a relationship that always deceived us into a reality.

As our friendship grew based on a shared love for country music, going to concerts is something we've enjoyed doing together throughout the years. There are some artists that mean more than others, and for Tyler, those are the artists that he claims to have been the first to introduce Emily to. Cody Johnson was one of these guys. On an impromptu vacation that could have led us to Phoenix instead, we landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida this February. Tyler took advantage of a well-timed, conveniently-placed Cody Johnson concert that just happened to be occurring at the destination where flights were open - where are the airline friends at? While contemplating a plan to use the ring (that was in his boot) during the opening acts, Tyler sprung into action right before CoJo took the stage. Walking down to the security guard patrolling the floor, Tyler asked for permission to get on the floor level during a song in the next set. Permission received, the plan was a go. Tyler's note: If you don't know already, take it from me that it's extremely difficult to watch a concert when all you're doing is waiting for a certain song to come on. Finally, about halfway through the show, the song begins. Hand in hand, down to the floor we went. Slipping past security and luckily avoiding the one security person that didn't get the memo, we danced to a song that describes our story and has always meant a great deal to us. Accidentally nailing the timing to be right during an instrumental, Tyler popped the question. Emily said YES, the crowd went wild, and even the spotlight operator lit up the action for all to see. If you don't know it already, you'll hear the song on our wedding day for our first dance. There's more to this story, but you'll have to ask Emily about the first CoJo concert we attended to find out.