Being the super cool hip young people that we are (re: nerds), Ryan and I met on a dating website. We immediately connected over our love of Game of Thrones and Firefly and making fun of ourselves and each other. I had some incredibly hilarious puns on my dating profile, and Ryan had a terrible habit of saying things that were too clever for his own good. Our first date was a round of golf at the USF golf course (we did not keep score but I would like to point out that only one of us has a Varsity Letter in golf from high school).

Ryan won the round of golf on the first date.

Sometime early 2017 I began to think about proposing to Kelsie. We had a trip planned to Paris, and it had crossed my mind to pop the question somewhere in the city of lights. However under further consideration I realized that would be setting the bar way too high for future romantic gestures, so I decided against it. Better to keep the bar low so she would never be disappointed. I still wanted the moment to be at least a little bit romantic, and my perfect chance came in December on a week long cruise through the Caribbean. I decided that I wanted to propose early in the trip so we could spend the rest of the trip celebrating. So our first full day at sea, I took Kelsie to the 4th nicest restaurant on the ship and we had an excellent dinner. Afterwards we wandered around the ship's decks as I looked for the perfect spot to get down on one knee. After unsuccessfully and awkwardly searching for a romantic and private spot for about 20 minutes (they pack way too many people onto those ships), Kelsie had started to complain that the wind on the deck was messing up her hair and that her heels were really killing her feet. I still wanted to propose that night, but I reluctantly agreed to head back to the cabin. We got back to the cabin and sat at the foot of the bed. Kelsie asked me "So what do you want to do tonight?" After a long pause, I replied "I want to do this". I proposed right there in the room, no colorful sunset, no picturesque ocean horizon, and definitely no Eiffel Tower. It was clear afterwards that none of that would have mattered, because the one thing I'll never forget is Kelsie answering "Of course".