From Rae: In 2016, I spent my weekday mornings at the elementary school's front door greeting the tall, handsome, motorcycle riding math tutor. I'm pretty sure we never exchanged more than nod and John had absolutely no idea who I was. After a month of morning niceties, my coworker slipped John's fellow tutor a simple note that read "My friend thinks your friend is cute. Have him text her." I remember being so nervous after my coworker passed the note. (Yes, I understand how the last sentence reads; I work in an elementary school, so it seemed fitting.) A few days later (December 19, 2016, to be exact), I received my first text from John. I was so struck by John's interesting stories and charismatic personality. Shortly after, we met up at McNellies, shared a beer, and the rest is history! From John: In 2016, I was a math tutor at Rae's school. I received her phone number from my coworker one day after tutoring. I had no clue who Rae was. I waited a few days before texting, because I didn’t know how I felt about contacting this stranger. I'm very glad I decided to text her, because before I knew it we had a date setup and several other dates planned. We spent the next couple weeks talking and seeing where our relationship went. So that's kinda like we met on the playground and lived happily ever after. Who knew "check yes or no" at elementary school would actually work?

It started on December 4th when my friend "slyly" asked me to get my nails done with her. I sensed I wasn't being invited to the nail salon during COVID to not be wearing an engagement ring soon. The Thursday I got my nails done, John planned the best date - Chick Fil A and a Christmas lights night flight. I remember being so nervous and wondering if it was "the night." Spoiler alert, it was not "the night." In true John fashion, he wanted to make me wait; I was right where he wanted me and went home knowing it. Fast forward to Saturday. John and I planned to go four wheeling, and I decided to put on a little mascara just in case. We four wheeled up to the top of a little cliff, John threw his drone in the air, and then popped the question. I was so excited and may have forgotten to say "yes" right away. Little did I know, John had more plans in store for the day. We ate in an empty dining room at Bohemian Pizza, Netflix binged our current favorite show, and had a small surprise engagement party. On the way home, John braved the long lines to see more Christmas lights, one of my favorite winter activities. The next morning, we spent the day enjoying a rare Tulsa snow day & our engagement.

Rae really likes surprises and I’m really bad at them, so the proposal had to be good. On Thursday I sent her and a friend to get their nails done. After, Rae met me at the airport where we ate one of our favorite meals, Chick Fil A. Next, we went for an evening flight to look at Christmas lights. We flew for a little over an hour, then we put the plane away and I kissed her goodnight. She was quite disappointed that the proposal didn’t happen that night, because all the signs pointed towards it. The following day we exchanged minimal messages, and I knew I had her exactly where I wanted her. Saturday came around we went to ride four wheelers with a friend. Rae was completely thrown off when he asked if we could cut up some firewood when we were out and I declined. We drove to the top of a cliff face, I launched my drone, got down on one knee, and asked her to marry me. She was hit with such a shock that she forgot to say yes with words, and reacted by hugging me. After about 30 seconds she found her words and, to my delight, they were "yes, absolutely." Next, we went to her favorite pizza place which allowed us to social distance and enjoy a meal. From there, we were going to reenact our first bowling date, but, due to COVID, I resorted to another favorite date - hiking at Turkey Mountain. Unfortunately, it was 34 degrees outside, so we opted to go home and enjoy being a newly engaged couple for a few hours. I didn’t let her know, but the surprises weren’t over yet. When we drove to my parents house to share the good news, I arranged for close friends to meet us and celebrate with champagne and cake. When we arrived, she was quickly clued into the plans as their cars were in the street. She gave me a scream of delight, and we proceeded inside to conclude the day.