We first "met" on Bumble, an online dating site. Michelle's profile was all about sports and Dane's profile simply had a quote from The Office. Dane's profile picture was him atop the mountain in Aspen with his handsome pup, Ajax. Michelle was instantly drawn in by muscles and this handsome, 4 - legged, chocolate man. On Bumble, the girls have to reach out first, which is awful. But, Michelle sent some corny ice breaker and the rest is awkward history.

This is just as awkward as you think it would be. Our first date was a HOT MESS. We decided to meet at a local brewery that we both liked. I decided to show up a little early (are you surprised?) so that I didn't have to be the one that awkwardly scans the room for a blind date. I am more nervous than you could possibly imagine, so while sitting there I rehearsed what I was going to talk about. When Dane showed up, he was much more handsome than I thought. Here comes this big, handsome, well dressed (he had on dress pants with flip flops. Again, are you surprised?) man. All of what I had just rehearsed in my head was now gone. He sits at the table across from me, and I start to do what I do best - talk way too much from nervousness. I start to ramble on about the NBA because that's what all girls do, right? After about 30 minutes of me talking, he was finally able to get a few words in to order another beer. We move our conversation (Which has only been me talking his ear off) to the outside beer garden. We sit in some high back, low to the ground, Adirondack chairs to talk some more. After about 2 hours of sitting (and more drinking) Dane's chair decides that it has taken enough stress from the previous patrons and randomly snaps in half, causing him to fall backwards in sheer embarrassment. To this day, I tell this story with pains in my side from laughter, while Dane fumes with anger. This moment was very high up on his list of worst moments of his life. This random act of fate is what sealed the deal for me, and I knew that I was going to marry this man.

After some time of just dating, we knew that we were soulmates. We always referred to the future as "when we are married and have kids" and "My future wife/husband". Finally, around Christmas of 2019, we are sitting around on a cold weekend morning and Dane just casually asks "So, for your engagement ring. Do you want to pick it out? what styles do you want?....etc". He's not good at keeping secrets. Now, I know that it is coming and am on my toes. A couple of weeks pass and it is now the weekend before Christmas. While having a serious and thoughtful conversation, Dane spills the beans (again, casually) that he had told his parents he was going to propose. I am now even more excited than before. Come mid February, it still hasn't happened and I am starting to complain. I know, Shocker. His Dad comes into town for the weekend to visit. Soon after arriving, he excitedly grabs my left hand and says "OH! Let me see!". Now, I'm annoyed. I tell his dad that it hasn't happened yet, but that he was...kind...enough to tell me that it WAS comings - just not WHEN. A while later, I have sort of forgotten about the whole thing. We get up one morning and decide to skip the gym to stay in bed to snuggle. We are in bed having sleepy conversation, and he says "I have been trying to figure out a way to do this, but I could not think of the perfect way so I am just going to do it!". He leaps up from bed, jumps to my side of the bed and gets down on one knee! Spoiler alert..... I SAID YES!