So we had met a few times through the years -shout out to Ammber that we both know. Then in March 2019 Jen fostered a dog through Heartstrings rescue (shout out to Jackie and Heartstrings Rescue) named Chloe, which she had never fostered a dog before only cats. So of course that is when Brian happened to stop in the clinic to say hi to Ammber and he got to meet Chloe. He had recently broken up with a girlfriend and decided he was done dating forever. So he swore off women and was thinking about getting a dog. So of course he ended up adopting Chloe. We started text messaging as Chloe and him were settling in. Jen had adopted a dog named Adam so they went on some hikes with the dogs and started hanging out together. She met his parents the very first time she went to his house and ended up being left alone with his mom for hours as they chatted about everything under the sun. He met her parents when she was driving him home (since he had been drinking) after the Croatian fest, So that was an interesting meeting as well. Haha. Unfortunately Chloe passed away suddenly after only 4 months with him, which obviously was a very rough time for Brian. But we did continue to hang out together, going to admirals hockey games, out to dinner and trying new beers. He did adopt another dog named Roscoe in December 2019 from the humane society. We went to the Mayville Beer fest 1/25/20 and after that is when we had our first kiss so we consider that to be our first date. Things continued to slowly but steadily move forward and she moved into his house just over a year after we started dating. If Brian tells the story she rented out her condo without even asking to move in, which is only half true haha. Since then we have had many adventures together, big and small. We started to discuss our future plans together which our course led to discussing the possibility of marriage. We did go ring shopping since he wanted to make sure it was something she would like but she was determined not to pick out the ring but just narrow it down. It wasn’t discussed again after that and she honestly figured it would take him a while to take the plunge and ask. That spring just a few months later they were heading down to Gulf Shores Alabama to visit his parents snow birding down there. Brian did talk to her dad right before we got on the plane. Brian was really determined not to check his bag that he had the ring in, which she thought was weird but didn’t think that much about it. Of course the weather was not the best the first few days, very foggy and a little cooler out. Finally on the third day it was still foggy but we were walking down the beach alone. When he reached into his back pocket got on one knee and said he had been holding on to it for the 3 days we were there waiting for the right moment and asked her to marry him, which of course she said yes. We walked back down the beach to his parents to tell them. After they got over their initial genuine surprise they were excited. We waited until we got back to Wisconsin to tell my family. We tried to relax and enjoy a little bit; then the wedding planning started. We decided to not wait real long since no one is getting any younger, haha. So despite selling her condo and moving into and opening up a brand new multi million dollar practice the wedding planning has moved forward. Just this January marks 5 years together and going strong. We can’t wait for everyone to celebrate with us and enjoy the day.