We met in high school through mutual friends & I remember thinking to myself, "Wow, Marcus is such a nice guy". There was an obvious connection between us, even back then. I found myself drawn to him - bringing him milkshakes when he was recovering from surgery, making him hold my phone at prom, & crashing his very small graduation party.

After about a year of talking every single day throughout my freshman year at UND, I finally got sick of waiting for Marcus to ask me out and took matters into my own hands. I asked him to go to a movie with me & we drove around for hours talking afterwards. The rest is history!

Usually Saturday mornings are reserved for sleeping in at our house, but this day was different. Marcus jumped out of bed and made a pancake breakfast at 7:30am. When he came back to the bedroom and asked if I wanted some pancakes, I remember thinking, "Well not really, but I better get up and humor him". I walked into the kitchen to a fresh pot of coffee, orange juice, and pancakes as Marcus dished up everything for me and asked me to sit at the bar counter with him - which we never do. I knew something was off with Marcus, but I just played along and took my sweet time eating my pancakes. After enduring some awkward conversation, Marcus got down on one knee in the kitchen & asked me to spend forever with him.