we're getting married!

It all started in 2020. AKA the peak of Lincoln's mandatory masking during Covid-19. Damian was on the hunt for some desserts for a small evening dinner he was attending. I noticed the small details almost instantly. He was alone. He wasn't wearing a wedding ring. I felt an immediate draw towards him, although I could only see the top portion of his face above his mask. I felt like he was looking into my soul. I could feel my ears get hot. I hid my blushing cheeks behind my mask when I started to grab his pastries for him. He asked me to grab an assortment. I recommended him a cheesecake because that was my favorite, and I wanted him to know that. I gave him some macarons because whoever he was bringing them to would be impressed. And I gave him plain confetti cookies because they're just amazing. And I threw in a couple of cookie sandwiches. Chocolate chip and espresso buttercream to be exact. Goldenrod Pastries is a teeny tiny shop. All of my coworkers knew me very, very well. And they definitely knew I was crushing. We all got giggly as he left and walked down the sidewalk. I laughed with them even harder when I told them I peeked at his name on the card he paid with. Damian David. I searched him on social media, of course. His name would randomly pop into my head throughout the rest of that day as if I were a second grader discovering love. He came into the pastry shop relatively soon after that day. This time he had two small ones with him. Jonah and Greta. This didn't scare me. In fact, it piqued my interest. I instantly initiated the conversation. I asked them how old they were and where they went to school. I asked them what they like to do. Damian seemed to go blank here for a second. He had to ask his kids what they liked to do as a family. It was kinda cute. He told me they like to go to the lake, play hockey, and eat ice cream. (Little did I know my very single, very sports-free life was going to turn into about 40% hockey and 20% ice cream). Fast forward a couple of weeks. He was sitting outside of the coffee shop next door to Goldenrod on a Zoom call for work, drinking coffee. I walked by, smiled, and said hi as I was passing by. (He later tells me this impressed him, that I remembered him and his name and spoke up. Brownie points, YES!) He stopped me and muted his call. "Hey, I was wondering if you maybe would like to share a meal with me sometime?" "Sure" I said. Again, blushing under my mask. He picked me up. We finally are seeing each other without masks for the first time. (Well, other than when I searched his facebook) We went and had a drink at The Tavern, and then grabbed some dinner at a little Mexican spot, Neveria, and took it to the top of a parking garage. We almost instantly trusted each other and hanging out was so easygoing and fun. We laughed a lot. I was surprised he cussed as much as he did. I had never dated a father, afterall. The night went amazing. We landed upon a observatory telescope on this parking garage. Nobody was using it, so we basically had it all to ourselves, as well as the two college kids who could tell us every detail about the entire universe. We now have this sky pattern from this day engraved into an overhead light in our dining room. He came back to the coffee shop next door. This time I spotted him before we were even open at the pastry shop. I snuck over there with a fresh warm cinnamon roll. I wrote a little "I really like you ♥" note on the inside of his pink pastry box. We went on tons of dates from there on, including an iconic trip to Carhenge in Alliance, NE. We told each other we loved each other at Capitol View Winery with the most beautiful sunset and music. We've traveled to meet friends. We've gone hand-in-hand to many concerts. We've spent about a million and a half hours on the road. And I'm excited to spend a million and a half more! That is the full story of how we met, if you stuck around, congratulations, I knew I liked you!!