I'm not quite sure either one of us knew the magnitude of this silly party in August almost half a year before we started dating. Ryan was from Kansas City and I was in Emporia, trying to finish up school. We met at a mutual friend's (our officiant, actually!) in Emporia and despite the fact that we hardly talked at the party, we both had a shared attraction to each other. In my mind, he was an hour and a half away, so there was no way I was going to see him again. Little did I know, he was already saying that he was definitely going to see me again. Fast forward a few months to New Years where my family was driving back from New Orleans. After the 13 hour car ride, even though I said I would be there, I didn't want to drive the last hour and a half to Emporia and decided to stay with my parents. Cue Ryan wondering where I was at the New Years party in Emporia, ready to ask me out. As you might expect, he was pretty fed up with trying to line up Emporia parties that I may or may not be at, just to ask me out in person, so the next day he started messaging me on Facebook, asked me out, and we were officially dating by February 4th.