And this is the journey of us...

We met officially online through Plenty of Fish. Kevin messaged me first with a simple “Hi there”. I usually did not respond to such a simple message, but I took a gander at his profile. As I carefully examined his profile, something about him caught my eye. His tagline read: No Time For Games. Instead of thinking this was a man on a mission, it brought me back to my youth. My sister and I would spend hours playing a video game called Sonic the Hedgehog Adventure 2. In the game, there's a character named Dr. Eggman, and in one of the mini-games you can play, Dr. Eggman says “no time for games”. I immediately showed my sister the tagline and she, after laughing, said I should message him back to see if he played. Turns out, he had played before, but he did not recall that quote from the video game. His tagline meant exactly what it read; he was looking for something serious and did not want to waste his time with games. That night we talked about our all our favorite things including a little bit about his "little monster". We talked off and on for nearly a month before we finally decided that we wanted to meet in person...

I can’t remember the exact reason I messaged Amanda at first. Maybe it was because she had included Halloween pictures in her profile picture, or that she liked horror movies. Whatever the reason was, I decided maybe there could be something there, so I sent her a simple gesture, “hi there”. It took until the next morning for her to respond. She asked me if I played sonic…Uh what? I responded yes but not recently, and next thing I know the conversation soon took on a life of its own. We talked about everything. From work, to movies, and family…the conversation flowed so naturally but then, one day it stopped. The silence went on for a week or two, and then out of nowhere she starts talking to me again. We picked back up where we left off, but this time it felt different. This time it seemed more cautious, she had already disappeared once, so I didn’t want it to happen again. However, as the texting became more and more, she asked if we could talk in the phone. This made nervous…what if her voice was weird…what if it was awkward…I called. She answered and her voice was perfectly normal. She sounded nervous, but it was comforting. We talked for at least three hours without any awkward silences or any moments when I thought, this couldn’t work. We decided on the phone call that when she got back home from vacation with her family, we would finally meet...

Our 1st date was 7/16/16, about a month after we started talking. We went to Red Lobster for dinner, and everything was going great! We realized we didn't want the night to end and decided to go play pool. I talked up my pool game to see how Kevin handled competition. Kevin, humble as he is, completely down played his skill. Despite my attempts to flirt and distract, Kevin was completely focused on the game and kept beating me. I appreciated he didn’t “let” me win. The night was starting to come to a close, again, but as we walked out to the parking lot we both agreed we weren't ready for it to be over, not to mention I feared I was being friend zoned because we still hadn’t had our first kiss. Out of nowhere, an idea pops in my head and I ask Kevin, "Have you ever seen the Lincoln Memorial at night?” He replied no and off we went. I jumped in the front seat of his truck and he let me control the music (maybe the first and last time he ever did so willingly). As I scrolled through his tunes, judging carefully, I found he had my favorite band, Anberlin. We made our way towards the memorial, listening to music, talking, and me struggling hopelessly to give helpful directions. We finally make it and head over to Lincoln. Once there, we read the writing of the Gettysburg Address, and went to look Abe. It was here, standing between the gigantic statue of our 16th President and the reflecting pool on a perfect summer night that Kevin wrapped me in his arms and kissed me. It was perfect. For the rest of the night we walked around the surround memorials and even touched the Washington Monument. We talked about everything there was to talk about. We finally realized it was getting really late (or really early depending on how you look at it) and knew it was time to head back. After Kevin dropped me off at my car and I made my way home, I could hardly contain myself. Despite it being so late, I was full of energy because I knew I had finally found someone special.

Amanda texted three choices of where to meet and break bread. She suggested Red Lobster and two other places I can’t remember…I bet she can’t remember either. She had beaten me there, but was waiting in the parking lot. When I first saw her, I thought to myself, this is really happening. “Amanda?” I said. She replied “uh Kev-in?”. If I could go back, I would have said, “No, I’m John”, but fortunately for her, my nerves got the best of my humor. After the weird, first, awkward hug, we made our way inside. I remember she ordered the lobster pizza, and me the crab cakes. We made some small talk and it was going well. Once the food came, I found I was the only one eating. She “wasn’t that hungry”. We finished eating, me more so than her, and I felt the date coming to an end. It was too early and I wanted to spend more time with her. Needless to say, we got dessert. Once we finished, I paid, and walked her to her car. We both wanted the night to continue, so she recommend we head to play pool. I told her I wasn’t that good, but I would enjoy it. We shot a couple of games and chitchatted some more. She was pretty good at pool and I like competition. After a few hours of shooting pool, she paid and we walked outside. We both had a look of we-still-don’t-want-this-night-to-end. She started talking about DC and the memorials. I told her I’ve never seen the Lincoln memorial. “LET’S GO!” she said abruptly. We hopped in my truck and set off to walking around and enough to talking make your mouth hurt. It was worth it. I finally kissed her in at the Lincoln memorial and it was incredible. I’m sure she was thinking about time… We continued to walk and talk until it got very late. We both knew that the perfect date had to end. We drove back to get her car and kissed goodnight. Once home, we texted each other a final goodnight. As I laid down in my bed, I thought to myself, this was the best date and I couldn’t wait to have more with her.

Kevin and I had tried multiple times to go back and revisit honest Abe, but life kept getting in the way. Finally, on the morning of July 24, 2018, Kevin told Kelsey and me to get dressed because we are going to DC. While getting ready, I noticed Kevin and Kelsey were being sneaky. On our way, I struggled, yet again, to give Kevin good directions. Eventually we made it, but had to park a mile away. It was a HOT day. By the time we got to the memorial, all three of us were very hot, sweaty, and a little grumpy. We manage to cut through the large crowd of people to snap a couple cute pictures. Kelsey starts looking at Kevin and says, "Do it Daddy!” I think to myself, what could they be up to? We moved on to walk the path near the reflecting pool, seeking shade from the sun and space from the crowd. There was an ice cream vendor on the path, so we got Kelsey a Popsicle. It was turning into a very nice day in DC. We started walking around the reflection pool when Kelsey started saying to Kevin, "do it". What in the world could this "it" be that she wants him to "do" so badly? I have to be honest, I started getting a little frustrated at this point. Anyone who knows me knows I hate surprises, and did I mention we were all super-hot! We take a break from walking on a bench for a few minutes and make our way back up the reflecting pool. We stop at the end to take some pictures and Kevin when asked Kelsey to take some of just him and me. Before I knew what was happening, Kevin was down on one knee, smiling and looking very nervous. He pulls out a black velvet box and as he opened the lid asked me a life changing question, "Amanda, will you marry me?” My eyes began to water and hands shake, I tried to say yes but my voice had caught in my throat. I shake my head vigorously up and down. Kevin, Kelsey and I all hug and then realize, everyone around us is staring. Kevin then yells "She said YES!" and the crowd went wild.

The ring was bought, my plan made, now to do it. I knew she wanted it and couldn’t wait. I planned to propose at the Lincoln memorial because I knew how much it would mean to Amanda. I let Kelsey know ahead of time that I would need her to keep a secret and take pictures. She was very excited to do this. We set off to DC. I think Amanda knew it was coming. Mainly because it’s not like me to go into the city on a hot, summer day. Nevertheless, if she did know, she didn’t show it. After searching for a while, we finally found a parking spot. Unfortunately, it was over a mile away from the Lincoln. We took some pictures on the hike over to make it look like we were there to check out the scenery and show Kelsey the memorials. The walk over was very making me nervous. I kept wondering if she could see the box in my pocket. We made to Lincoln and walked around, showing Kelsey the memorial. I couldn’t do it yet. We moved on to the WW2 memorial. By now, I could see Amanda getting frustrated and wanting to leave. It was hot and crowded, not to mention Kelsey kept whispering (rather loudly) “when dad? When are you going to do it?” We headed back and I suggested taking one more picture on the stairs leading up from the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln. As Amanda and I posed to have our picture taken by Kelsey, I dropped to one knee. I saw tears in Amanda’s eyes as I asked, “Will you marry me?” With a hand over her mouth and teary eyes she said, “Yes! Yes I will!” I was so happy that when I stood up I completely forgot to give her the ring. After we all hugged, she took the ring out of the box and slid it on. My nerves were finally gone and courage filled the void. I took a deep breath and while throwing my arms in the air, yelled, “She said yes!” The onlookers began to clap and cheer. I had no idea during our first date that I would end up at the same spot, almost two years later, to ask her to be my wife.