DATE: Spring of 2009 WHERE: Austin College Free Bowling HOW: I still ask myself that every day! I must be really, really, really ridiculously good looking! It was a normal spring day at Austin College: AM football practice, Spanish class, The Price is Right, then lunch with the boys. I was headed back to Baker Hall with the gang, when everything changed. I was stopped dead in my tracks … I had found my bride to be at first sight (cliché I KNOW, but it happened)! I looked at Patrick, Austin and Aziz and said, "That’s the one guys. I am going to marry that girl!" Patrick, being the guy he is said, "SLOW DOWN big guy! Why don't you start by asking her to our formal?" I contemplated asking her to marry me right then and there, but I took Patrick’s advice and decided I was going to ask her to my fraternity formal that Friday at an Omega Zeta party. My plan took a turn. After a wild night of free bowling, the girl I had hoped to ask to my formal the next day happened to need a ride to The Drunken Mule. This was my chance to impress her. I tried my hardest, but my non-existent two-step skills were just enough to make her laugh and laugh. We danced until the bar closed, where I mustered up enough courage to ask her to my formal. She said yes, and the rest is history!

Thursday night, after several hours in the library, I needed a ride from AC's notorious Free Bowling, to "college night" at The Drunken Mule. The car I was hoping to catch a ride in was full, and a friend yelled down the bowling ally at Coleman and Mannari to see if they had a spot. I had no idea who these large humans were, but we were headed in the same direction. That car ride is one I will never forget. "Chicken Fried" was playing on repeat and we were jamming the entire ride. We all two stepped the night away and had the best time. Patrick was, in fact, a much better dancer however when Alex asked me to Spring Formal that night I thought, "Why Not?!" Sparks did not fly for me that next week, next month, or even over the following summer where we spent countless days making excuses to hang out. During that Summer, I visited his house and thought it was very strange when his mom rushed over and gave me the biggest hug... I later learned that Alex had been talking incessantly about me to his sisters for months. When classes resumed that Fall, we were up to the same nonsense. Alex asked me on several "real dates" to fancy Sherman establishments, like Olive Garden! I politely declined in favor of late night IHOP and guitar hero rounds with my "best friend." While attending our Tuesday psychology class one week, Alex was scribbling an image of Kersti playing basketball. We were laughing and carrying on enough that the professor slammed his books down and stormed out of class. Our peers were elated because we got everyone out of an hour and a half of Psychology lecture. All this time, Alex was intent on making me his girlfriend, while I was simultaneously denying my growing feelings. An opportunity to join the group for an LSU road trip to watch his sister, Meghan, play volleyball and visit Death Valley was the final straw. Over board games that Friday night, I leaned over and told him as nonchalantly as possible, "OK, we can make this official."

On February 3rd, 2017 I got the best answer I ever could have imagined, to one of the hardest questions a man can ask. In the midst of clouds, 65 degree overcast weather, and sail boats, I knew I was about to ask my best friend to marry me! It wasn’t the easiest thing I have ever experienced, but it was definitely the most sure. I knew that, at the end of the most memorable game of Kan-jam, I’d be asking my best friend and love of my life to marry me! As we walked to Mission Beach, San Diego from our small little house in the bay, I knew that this Friday afternoon would be one of the best days of my life. After a quick pit stop at one of the local watering holes, I looked at my cousin Matt with a big smile and said, “you still have the ring right?” With a simple bushy eye brow bounce, he gave the “okay!” We got to the beach and everything was normal; Sav wanted to pop the most expensive thing we bought, which happened to be a Veuve Clicquot Brut Rosé. “Pop” the bottle went, and with that our day began. The day was off to a phenomenal start. According to the rules I had made with Matt and Alicia, as soon as the game ended I would propose. For all of you kan-jammers, you know that once the frisbee is slotted, the game is over. It was my throw to start the game! Whether God or luck was on my side, I ended the game as fast as it started, with a first throw victory; catching everyone off guard. Matt, Alicia, along with myself busted out into hysterical laughter! The game was over and the time was NOW! Matt reached into his back pocket and tossed the ring to me as I was moving into classic “proposal position!” I got down on one knee, asked the most sure question of my life, with a face full of tears and smiles, she said,“shut the f*** up... yes” amongst laughter and tears. It was everything I could’ve dreamed of! I was a happy man!