I lost my wallet. Anyone who knows me understand that things will eventually be lost and I will go on an obsessive tirade, looking from place to place for them until, inevitably, I wind up finding in the very first place I looked. The night I met Ryan was no different. After imbibing a bit, I had been dancing with too much zeal and in the process I tossed... or threw... my purse at a nearby wall, deeming it a hindrance to my grand "moves". Unbeknownst to me, my wallet had slyly slipped out- favoring the floor over my crass abuse. Ryan found it and in the process I found him. After five years of laughter, jokes, hours of conversations had fully in meows and the occasional intellectual debate, I am still just as struck by this man. He is the kindest, most intelligent and loving person I have met and by some miracle of fate (or the actions of a sneaky wallet) I get to keep him.

With three fun-filled years under our belt and getting approval from her dog Dag (he was easily bribed with treats), I was ready to ask Maggie to do this "dating" thing long-term. I kept the ring hidden in the back of my desk for a month while I waited for the perfect moment. Opportunity presented itself in a trip to St. Louis to visit friends. I had planned to take her on a walk around the Mizzou campus for a short "trip down memory lane" and to use the Columns as a backdrop for my proposal. Mother nature, it seemed, had other plans and a light sprinkle had begun outside. Maggie, being the strong-willed (aka stubborn) woman she is, did not want to get her curly hair wet (because it grows like a chia pet when watered). Realizing I was not going to win this battle, I used some quick thinking and opted to propose at Flatbranch, the location of our first date. When I reached into my pocket at the restaurant table to procure her old wallet that I had sneakily grabbed on our way out the door that morning, my nerves began to take hold. I clumsily dug the ring from out of the wallet and managed to catapult it across the table. After a fit of laughter and regaining my composure, I proposed to Maggie and she accepted. It wasn't the perfect proposal I had planned, but it was the perfect proposal for us. I look forward to many more years of mishaps, adventures, and laughter with her to come.