We met through some of our mutual friends who were tailgating at a UNR Wolfpack football game. It wasn't love at first sight because the timing wasn't right. We remained casual acquaintances and Facebook friends who knew little about each other. Two years later, Rich reached out, we started talking, and he surprised me at my tournament softball game. We went to grab drinks instead of dinner because I said I "wasn't hungry", although I ate most of the chicken tenders he ordered... (I had to keep it real from the beginning! Haha!) We talked for four hours, hugged, and drove away separately, only to awkwardly take the exact same streets and realize we lived less than two miles apart. Rich rolled down his window at a stoplight along the way, cracked a joke that made me laugh way too hard, and the rest is history!
As most of you probably know, I grew up in Chicago and lived there until my parents moved to Reno when I was in the middle of high school. Rich took me back to the midwest to celebrate his birthday with some friends and we planned to drive down to Chicago so he could “meet my extended family". We had planned to celebrate New Year's with all of them, which I was so excited about because I haven't been back there for NYE since I moved. What I didn't know was that he had been planning this engagement for a couple of months because he knows it’s my home away from home and he knows how much I love and miss all of my extended family. He got the blessing from my dad in September at my little brother’s wedding, which he knew was super important to me. He coordinated with my mom, told my cousin that we were staying with the plans so that she was in the loop, she coordinated with the rest of my extended family, and he collaborated with my best friend. We all know Rich can't keep secrets, so basically everyone knew but me! He proposed on NYE twenty minutes before midnight in front of all of my extended family with my Great Grandmother’s ring that my mom had been saving! I couldn’t be more thrilled and I started crying instantly! It was perfect! ❤️