We had only been flirting and casually dating for roughly a month but couldn't seem to concentrate on much else. We were both with our families for the holidays and kept distractedly messaging each other all of Christmas Eve. When Christmas Day came and both of our families were going to different dinners without us, we decided to find a theater between our family homes and see the new Star Wars movie that we hadn't seen. After getting ready and heading outside, Mary Ellen discovered her car was dead, but she was determined. She knocked on the door of several neighbors until one of them was willing to come jump her car. Thank goodness for Holiday Spirit. After the movie and not wanting to part, we both came to the realization that this could be something amazing.

We both knew early on that the capacity for happiness that we had together was greater than either of us could have imagined. However, we were both pragmatic, rational people and assumed you needed to wait a responsible amount of time before deciding to spend your life with someone. We pushed up milestones as much as we felt was reasonable before excitedly realizing that it was getting close to the time we could get engaged. He surprised me with my favorite bottle of Scotch Single Malt to distract me and while I was opening that, he was on his knee and asking me. I might have said 'Yes' before he even got the question out entirely.