...I found the one whom my soul loves...

Brenton's version: I reached for an apple, she reached for an apple, and our hands touched. --- Sara's version (the truth): We met on a dating app like good millennials. Neither of us was looking for anything serious and we agreed to keep things casual. And then Brenton promptly broke every single "keep things casual" rule there is. He asked me about my hopes and dreams, my values, my faith, and my opinion on corn vs. flour tortillas for tacos. Things quickly spiraled from me being in deep, deep denial about having romantic feelings to seeing a future with another person for the first time in my adult life. Loving each other was never part of the plan.

Brenton: Sara and I were both going on a trip to England with a group from the Diocese of Western Kansas Episcopal Church, organized by Bishop Mark Cowell. I called Mark asking him if he could help me with the proposal in London. He agreed. I had purchased the ring in November, but it didn't come in until late February. Sara actually took the ring to her parents' house, where it would stay until we left for our trip. I told her it was a Valentine's Day gift that came in late, so she would just have to wait until her birthday. Sara: It's a good thing I actually like surprises and didn't open it. B: There was a blizzard hitting northwest Kansas the day before we had planned to leave. I had packed ahead of time. S: I was NOT. I was really banking on that extra day. B: Sara's mom suggested we just take a bunch of stuff with us and Sara could finish packing at my brother's in Wichita, where we flew out. The night before we left, we were up well past 3:00am; Sara is a bit indecisive and had troubles deciding what she would want to wear and how many spare phone cases she would need, just in case. S: Two. B: I tried to get Sara to bring at least some nicer clothes instead of just the K-State shirts and hoodies she had laid out as possibilities. S: I had originally told Brenton that I thought we should pack some of his stuff and some of my stuff in each bag, just in case something got lost, we would both have clothes. He packed ALL of his stuff in his backpack. I nagged him about how silly it was to leave his check bag essentially empty, which I brought up in the form of "I told you so" multiple times throughout the day. I found out later it was because he was hiding the ring in his backpack. Whoopsie daisy. B: I had asked Mark if he would mule the ring through customs so Sara wouldn't see it. Before we checked in, Mark asked if anyone needed to use the bathroom, which is when we exchanged the ring. We had some mishaps... S: To put it lightly. B: ...that genuinely made me think that I would miss the plane. We had to run through the airport. Sara wouldn't even let me put my boots on when we got through security before we ran to the gate. S: The plane was running late so we were find, but we BOOKED it. I had to use my inhaler. B: The night before we were going to Canterbury, where I was to propose, Sara informed me that the next day was going to be a "hoodie day." I told Mark, who texted us to wear something nice the next day because we were going to take a group photo. She reluctantly packed nice clothes instead of her K-State hoodie. We arrived in Canterbury in the late afternoon. Mark and I exchanged the ring in the bathroom again. S: I thought it was weird that we stopped for the bathroom just a stone's throw away from the hotel. B: Once we got to the lodge, Mark asked me to go scout out a place for a group shot, which is when I looked for a spot to propose. Sara went up to the hotel room to unpack. When I got back, I asked Sara if she wanted to go to a "rare spiritual ceremony." S: I didn't want to go, but Brenton convinced me. B: As we were walking to the cloisters, I realized she was still wearing her fanny pack. S: Which was glorious! There were also three people from our group just like weirdly following us? Brenton had asked them to take photos. It was then that I started to suspect that I was either going to get engaged or murdered. B: In the cloisters, I stopped, turned to faced Sara, got down on one knee, and proposed. S: I obviously said yes. B: We sat on a stone bench to give Sara a minute to process, but we had a time schedule to stick to. I told Sara I had another surprise for her. S: To which I responded that I literally could not handle any more surprises. B: We walked back to the garden across from the cathedral, where our entire group was waiting to greet us in a champagne reception Mark and I had arranged beforehand. We celebrated more later that night after a nice dinner and a play.