We officially met in high school back in 2006. We had the same first period class, worked at the same local ski hill and had a lot of mutual friends. I had always thought he was so cute but we never really talked to one another. Our paths crossed a couple times after that through mutual friendships and weird coincidences but is wasn’t until the summer of 2015 that we finally connected. I was having brunch at the Old Fashioned with my family and saw him working behind the bar. I remember telling my niece and nephew “omg, I know that guy!” I didn’t think much of it and never said hi assuming he wouldn’t recognize me after all this time anyway. The very next day I was hanging out with my girlfriend and she wanted to “play” on my dating app. I was single at the time and she loved harassing the local singles so I told her to go for it. She’s been my best friend since high school, has known Nate since they were kids, and was very aware of my “little crush” on him. It took about two minutes before his handsome mug came across my screen and without hesitation my friend “swiped right”. We matched instantly. I believe he made the first move by sending me a message which I quickly responded with my digits, no hesitation. We’ve been together ever since.

We were on our annual Lavik trip up north in Hayward, WI. He had asked Dad a few weeks prior and of course he said he approved 100%. Little did I know, he had his whole family in on the proposal. It all went down on the annual pontoon cruise around the lake. Nate’s Uncle Bob is video tapping everything which is totally normal as he’s been videotaping the family trips for years. We had an exceptional amount of champagne on the boat but I didn’t think anything of it! Alyssa (Nate’s little sister) started off the cruise with a speech, “Cheers to being well fed, well bred, and phenomenal in bed” and then Nate stands up and says something like “well we can’t all be good in bed!” and I just start thinking, “oh boy, what on earth is he about to say”. He continues on about how he’d like to welcome Erin to the family. Erin and Patrick Keleny (family friends) had just gotten engaged this just happened to be her first time up north. He goes on about how this was the 20th year his family had been coming up on this trip and that he was happy to add one more to the mix. That’s when he got down on one knee, reached into his pocket and asked me if I’d marry him. I said YES and started crying almost immediately. I was so surprised and overcome with emotion, my hand was shaking as he put the ring on my hand. Champagne was popped and the celebrating began! We both agree that like four hours flew by in what seemed like minutes. The best part is we got the whole thing on film so we have this memory for forever.