Happily Ever After

Mike and Michelle’s first "magical interaction" happened on Facebook in the comments section of a mutual friend. Michelle had revealed some musicians she’d been listening to on heavy rotation (Foy Vance, Mat Kearney) which prompted Mike to suggest they swap Spotify playlists. Little did he know how serious she takes her playlist creations. Since both grew their love of music through the mixtape era, it was a welcome discovery to find the first of many things they share a love for. One of the bands on Michelle’s shared playlist was the Canadian group Arkells. This band was new to Mike, but before long, he was hooked. And as many of Mike’s friends can attest to, he will travel irrationally long distances to see good music. Mike happened to see that Arkells had a Cleveland gig a couple of months down the line and his first thought was “I can ask Michelle to go!” But as he added two tickets to his shopping cart, he realized that asking someone you’ve never met face-to-face to join you on a 4 hour road trip in the middle of the work week is perhaps a bit much for a first date. He bought the tickets anyway. Over the next month, Mike and Michelle began chatting and Mike mentioned the upcoming Arkells show (without mentioning the tickets). Mike recalls he said something like, “Did you see Arkells are playing Cleveland? We should go!” to which she understandably replied “ I can’t go to a concert out of state with someone I’ve never met.” To which Mike countered, “then we should meet for coffee sometime.” Successful coffee date on April 9, 2015 - and three weeks later they saw a very intimate Arkells show on a Thursday night in Cleveland, at the House of Blues. Before the concert, they took their first photo together - a selfie on East 4th street just outside the venue. Fast forward 9 years (to the day) of their first coffee date - Mike and Michelle traveled back to Cleveland to see a new favorite artist (Donovan Woods) play at the House of Blues. As they were outside, Michelle excitedly remembered this was the spot that they took their first selfie so they should pose for another! They did just that. And then Mike took out a ring and proposed.