We’re Getting Married!

We met on a dating app in late spring of 2018. Tom was spending the summer in Kalamazoo, MI for a course for his degree in aviation Maintenace. Similarly, Montana was completing an internship with the Battle Creek Bombers for her degree in sport management.

We met on a cool May afternoon at a small coffee shop in downtown Kalamazoo. Tom remembers ducking out of the rain and thinking “I sure hope that’s my date” after spotting the young lady peering at the menu on the blackboard behind the counter. Montana remembers making eye contact with the tall gentleman that had entered through the industrial doors of the coffee shop and thought “I really hope that’s my date.” We ordered coffees, a latte and an americano to be specific. We found a quiet table along a back wall and fell into a deep and long conversation. Hours later, with cheeks sore from smiles and laughter, drink mugs long empty, we walked out into the cool evening side by side, enchanted, excited, and falling in love.

And we continued to build a life together. Our relationship knew no distance because over the course of 3 1/2 years, we lived in 4 different states & many different cities. Montana moved to Minnesota in fall of 2020 and we began our life together in the same city.

We got engaged at home on Thursday July 8th, 2021. It was 9 months after we moved to that cozy one-bedroom apartment on White Bear Lake. While we had been planning to get engaged for a while, the moment was spontaneous. What followed was a lovely evening; we went for our usual walk along the lakeshore and our normal routine walk was anything but. We saw loons and heard their calls, we saw hot air balloons along the horizon, and there were even fireworks going off down the street from the walking path. It was as though the world was celebrating (as well it should!) When we returned home, we had champagne, called loved ones, and got to planning a wedding, a marriage, and a life together.