We met at Culver-Stockton College, which is a very small school! The population of the town was probably the same as the school, while it was in session. It was very common to know everyone on campus, and if you didn't personally know them, you had heard of them. One night, I went out with my sorority girls to a smaller frat house (which was in the basement of a men's dorm, where Jonathan was the RA). We were just hanging out and playing a game, whenever Jonathan came over and sat near me, trying to learn how to play. I really wasn't interested in explaining, I was trying to win! I would quickly answer his question and back to the game I went. For some reason the questions just didn't end there. The night progressed to his frat house up the hill, where he continued to follow us. I couldn't shake this guy. I guess I secretly loved the fact that he wouldn't back down that easily. After some persistence, a friendship formed, and it was a bond that in the end couldn't be broken.

Before I transferred to W.I.U, I went to Culver for two years to play football. While attending this small institution I met someone that I had no intention on meeting. One night while conducting my rounds of being a R.A. I met Susie at a party in the basement of my building playing cards with other students. I’ve seen her around campus and knew she played volleyball for the school but never talked to her cause I heard she was “mean”. Anyone who knows me knows Jonathan loves a challenge especially to get to know a fellow beautiful athlete. Asking several questions on how to play the card game I could tell she was annoyed but somewhat intrigued. After the game I asked the girls if they were going up to the frat party and if so I was going also. The long walk up the hill gave me an opportunity to make her talk to me. Long story short we never stopped talking after that night of partying and her admiring my amazing dance moves😎.

Since our "anniversary" is in September and that month was crazy busy, Jonathan suggested we just celebrate the middle of October. “We'll just get dressed up and go to a nice dinner”. Sounded perfect! Little did I know, he had an elaborate plan in the works. His sister flew in from Atlanta, which I didn't think was too odd since she hadn't been to visit in so long. Everyone I knew had plans that Saturday night, so I didn't think we would be meeting up with anyone after dinner. After spending the day with Jonathan's sister and mom, getting our nails done, and his mom doing my hair and make up (again, a little odd because it's not like I get that done often, but not trying to think too much into it). Jonathan has a car arranged to pick us up at 4:15 p.m. When he told me earlier in the week that we were having an "early dinner" I (most likely rolled my eyes) probably said, "oh like 7:30?" A black Mercedes 550 pulled up all ready to go a little before the arranged time. I was unsure of where we were going, just that we would have fun. About 5 minutes later, we arrived at LoRusso's Restaurant. Of course we were the first ones there, they don't open until 5. After dinner, the driver popped a bottle of champagne and told us "congratulations." Our "anniversary" seemed to be the theme of the day, so I responded with "thank you." Our next destination, unbeknown to me was the Four Season's. I was blindfolded at this point, so I was just along for the ride. He told me we had a table at 7:30 for dessert. In true Renaud fashion, I told him I had a gift card to Bailey's Chocolate Bar, and I thought we could use that! At promptly 7:25 the blindfold came on again, as we made our way to our "table" for dessert. We walk outside onto the outdoor patio, where he takes off my blindfold, and I see our immediate families, a few cousins, and some close friends. He had chosen particular songs to play, wrote a beautiful poem on a card, and got down on one knee!