We owe our meeting to two very important people in our lives- Nick Paradise and Brandon Hermreck- who knew how perfect we were for each other. It all started one afternoon on a golf course when Brandon, Nick, and I were part of a team during a charity golf event. I was lamenting my blind date struggles, and Brandon said he had the perfect woman for me. After many missed opportunities, moving from Kentucky to KC, and COVID lockdowns, I finally met Abby on 8/28 during a "Meet & Greet" at the Loews Hotel in Kansas City. Simply put, INSTANT ATTRACTION. We embarked on a series of dates across Kansas City where we got to know everything about each other. Our conversations flowed effortlessly and we both agreed there weren't enough hours in the day for us. With COVID still a thing, we tended to stick to our "pods," which meant lots of time with each other’s families. That turned out to be amazing as Adam, Julia, Pete, Jen, Barry, Beth, and Curt made me feel right at home, and Nick, Maddie, Lauren, Geoff, Jill, Jeff, Johnny, Nancie and Jack made Abby feel like she had been around for years not weeks.

9/19 was a big day for me and the first of many times I experienced a case of word vomit with Abby. After a great date with Abby, I drove her home to TwoLight. Like any gentleman would do, I opened her car door for her, told her I couldn’t wait to see her tomorrow morning for our date at the Louisburg Cider Mill, gave her a kiss, and said, “goodnight I Love You!” I tried to play it off like I hadn’t said it and awkwardly got back in my car and drove off. The whole way home I kept scolding myself for being too honest, and said to myself if you scared her off she will cancel on tomorrow’s date. Luckily she didn’t and I’d later find out she texted Jen right after to ask for advice since I’d just told her I Loved Her…it was the first time because I was smitten with Abby. 10/31 was a big day as Abby and I had a lot to celebrate that weekend- my mom’s birthday, Halloween, and getting ready to take a fun trip to Florida. That morning, we had breakfast at one of our usual favorite spots, Classic Cup. As we ate my mouth once again decided to word vomit and I suddenly asked Abby if I could, “ask her something.” All of the filters in my brain tried to stop me and at first, I hesitated and stammered out “never mind…forget it…it was nothing…nothing…I’m done talking.” Abby only got more curious and said well now you have to tell me, to which I didn’t skip a beat saying, “If I asked you to marry me would you say yes?” There were a few moments of silence where my stomach dropped, and I couldn’t believe what I’d just said. Then Abby replied, “why yes, yes, yes, I think I would.” While I was relieved, I couldn’t wait for everything to come as it solidified what I already knew- I was going to marry Abby McClellan and get to spend the rest of my life with her.

“The Man I’m Going to Marry:” The day before I met Michael, I had dinner at Peter and Jen’s House. During dinner Peter informed me he had just played golf with Brandon who confidently told my brothers he would be introducing me "to the man I was going to marry." Needless to say, I was nervous to meet “the man I was going to marry.” I lived only a few blocks from the Loews Hotel, but it was a VERY hot day (fingers crossed this 8/28 is much, much cooler) and in order to not be a puddle of sweat I took a rideshare and still was sweating bullets when I arrived. Luckily I arrived first so I had time to cool myself down. I immediately hit it off with Michael – we talked about travel, family, and I learned he was also left-handed!! When the night was over Michael offered to drive me home. He was a perfect gentleman; he got my door and gave me a kiss on the check BUT I went for the lips! Car Q&A: I was not used to someone getting the car door for me – every time! I had a hard time waiting for him to open the door – I asked him what should I do while I’m waiting? He said, “think of a good question to ask me.” For every date, each time he opened the door for me I thought of a unique question. They were random from favorite video game, to favorite candy and helped me get to know Michael even more.

Abby and I had many conversations before the actual question. She set me up for success when I asked Dr. Curt for his permission to marry his amazing daughter, made the ring easy, and then allowed me to surprise the heck out of her for our proposal. We had decided to buy a home together in Leawood and move our individual lives from Downtown KC and the Plaza and make the move to the 'burbs (where dreams do NOT go to die). That decision helped fuel my idea to pop the question and jam as many big life events into one day as I could- our home purchase/closing, moving, and proposing. Leading up to the day, I had laid a solid disinformation campaign (all which Abby knows now). Family is such a big part of both our lives, I wanted them included in the big day. Abby is a natural Nancy Drew, so the fact that I pulled off a surprise was a shocker to both of us. On 1/21, we closed on our new home and Abby went back to work while I headed to the house to "move-in” items from the Plaza condo so we could spend the first night in our new home. Little did Abby know, but me and our families were preparing for the proposal (a big thank you to Jen, Lauren, Maddie, Beth, and my Mom who helped me pull off an amazing evening). I picked Abby up from our condo after work and we drove to our new house to meet Wendy Foil (part of our wonderful Realtor group), and Aubrey Hubbard (our photographer). Abby thought Aubrey and Wendy were there to welcome us to our new home and take some new homeowner pictures. We took a few pictures, walked in the house to tons of candles, flowers, and lights- and once Abby saw the "Marry Me" sign in our sun room it finally hit her what was going on. I proposed, she said yes, and then we walked to the front of our house where our family was all waiting in surprise to celebrate one of the most memorable nights of our lives. Luckily we have a video of this event which you can watch here: https://vimeo.com/549425985