We're getting married!

Who knew two people mildly interested in a dating app would find each other on their first date on the app (well first for me, second for Taylor… the date not to be named lol). After moving to Austin, I found myself excited for my first job, but without the community I had at Cal Poly. Well, for those who know me, I basically have 2 speeds: 100mph and 200mph, so it didn’t take long for me to find myself on a dating app along with the most eligible bachelorettes in Austin. After a few failed attempts at making a connection, I stopped taking it so seriously and would pop on the app every couple of days. Fast forward a few weeks and I get a message from none other than Miss Taylor Anderson. We message back and forth for a while, then Taylor hits me with “I’m going to Europe for a week. I’ll message you when I get back”. My thoughts: what a sneaky way to tell me you’re not into me. Maybe it was the jet lag, but I get a message after work from the same Texas gal that caught my attention a week before. We plan to meet in person. As my first date from a dating app, I was 75% excited and 25% expecting to get Catfished. Long story short, our first date was amazing. We spent the evening at a rooftop bar in downtown Austin talking all about our lives. I must have been feeling confident, because I let her know that, "I’d like to do this again sometime”.

That sometime came about a week later. I picked up Taylor for a dinner at Fabi + Rosi on the west side of Austin. The restaurant didn’t take reservations, so I was counting on luck to make this date happen. We drive all the way across Austin to make it to the restaurant. As we pull up, the place is quiet… too quiet. It’s closed on Mondays! I go into Plan B mode and start scrolling a list of “Best Date Spots in Austin”. I find another option… upscale pizza. That’ll work. We drive back across Austin and to our collective amazement… it’s also closed. I’m thinking, “strike two, Tate”, and I’m in panic mode. I go back to the list that has failed me twice already and find a Mexican restaurant as, what I think is, my last chance. I kid you not. It’s closed. Strike three. I turn to Taylor and say, “should we just go to Chipotle?”. Taylor gives one more option—Salty Sow. We drive there and THANK YOU CUPID! It is open! But they only have one table left… and in their words “it’s not really a table, more of a ledge in a corner”. We took it! And that little nook in the back of the restaurant was where I began my journey of falling in love with an ambitious, caring, genuine Texas girl that I want to spend the rest of my days loving.

*picture of a girl climbing a rock* *swipe right* *clicks message* Tate: “Are you stretching?” Taylor: “Lol no, I am climbing” Tate: “You’re climbing right now??” Taylor: “No. That was a couple months ago” Tate: “Hahah I figured. I’m just messing with you. Is that in California?" Taylor: “Yeah actually! Outside of LA” Tate: “Oh sweet, I went to school in California. I just moved to Austin from there.” And so it began..after chatting back and forth for a couple of days, I told Tate I was headed to Europe for a couple of weeks. I said I’d message him when I got back. I figured if he was still around after a couple of weeks it was a good sign. I got back and, as promised, messaged him. He remembered I had said I was in search of the best margarita in Austin and he wanted to take me to a new rooftop bar that claimed to have the best. Also, it was hot pink. I'm not sure if I was more interested in the hot pink marg or the "stretching guy" (what I referred to him as with my friends) but I replied "it's a date!". As I walked up the stairs to the restaurant, I looked around at a sea of people, all talking and laughing.. but no sign of him. I went into slight panic mode and considered turning around and leaving. Right on the brink of departure, this figure walked up to me. “HEY, how’s it going!?!”.

I was stunned. I felt like the world stopped and sped up at the same time and everything around him blurred out. He had this buzzing joyful energy that really caught me off guard. He was unlike anyone I had ever met and I was intrigued. I have no clue what we talked about that night, all I remember is that he said, “we should do this again”. That again happened about a week later when he asked me to go to this European restaurant I had been wanting to try. He picks me up and we drive 45 minutes in rush hour Austin traffic to Fabi + Rosi. To our great disappointment, it was closed! Tate quickly begins scrolling through an article on his phone and assures me he has a backup plan. Well, the back up plan was closed. And then the backup to the backup plan was closed. I can't make this up. Three for three restaurants were closed. At this point, I was taking it as a sign from above that this wasn’t meant to be. As a last ditch effort, I suggest a restaurant I had been to before that might be open. We got there and found out the restaurant had a one hour wait. They must of seen the despair on our faces because as were walking out the door, they called us back and said they didn't have a table for us, but if we’d be ok with it, they had a ledge in a corner that we could eat at. It was in that corner nook that an undeniable connection was formed. I learned about how Tate was (and very much still is to this day), a man that is above all genuine, kind to the bone, incredibly thoughtful, open and vulnerable, and so so funny (the dad jokes and all). I learned that we had many shared experiences in our lives and I felt like he understood me more than any person had before. I told him I was little skeptical about love after some past experiences I was trying to get over and wanted to take it slow. And slowly but surely, I fell in love with that man. Who is now my person. I am so happy we found each other.

Fast forward a year and a half—a lot has changed. Taylor and I made the decision to move from Austin to Kansas City in December 2019. I grew up in Kansas City, but had been gone for seven years since I left for college. After visiting a couple of times, we loved the idea of living near family and, before we knew it, we had all of our worldly possessions crammed into a U-Haul trailer and made the trek to the Midwest, HEB tortillas and kolaches in hand. At this point, I’ll let you in on a little secret: Taylor’s engagement ring traveled with us as well. Prior to our move, many times we discussed where we believed our relationship stood. We were (and continue to be) both fiercely committed to each other in the most genuine ways. A month or so before moving, we agreed we were ready to make the next step in our relationship. So back to the story… we’re now in Kansas City in the middle of winter. And it’s time to POP THE QUESTION. Since we are both, essentially, new to the area with no mutual spots to lean on, I had to get creative and turn this whole thing on its head. I started with “what is an important or meaningful experience in our relationship?”. Then followed up with “where in Kansas City can this experience be symbolized?”. The result: I wrote a series of poems to take us for a journey through Kansas City. Each poem represented a piece of our relationship and lead us to the next spot. Poem 1: Arise, my love, and get prepared. A day awaits—it has arrived. Right now our love is undeclared. Yet, could it be reclassified. Your love I chase and can’t outrun. My teammate in life’s relay. Bon voyage before one and one. We’ll start off with a warm latte. Stop 1: Morning coffee at Parkville Coffeehouse. Taylor always jokes that her primary love language is coffee, so this made for a natural start to our Engagement Adventure (capitalized for importance)!

Poem 2: Your sweet smile after a morning sip, small things make my heart unzip. From bonjour to bonne nuit, our love still feels incomplete. Our oneness grew in Paris, let’s channel the romance in KC. It is time for le dejenner, take it back to a creperie. Stop 2: A French creperie, Chez Elle, near downtown Kansas City. Taylor studied abroad in Lyon, France, and love all things French. Poem 3 By now you sense premeditation, could you be my señorita? Next is not our destination, let’s calm our nerves with a margarita. Stop 3: Mi Ranchito. Taylor grew up on Mexican food in her hometown of Victoria, Texas. Also, margaritas are her favorite drink (yes, we will have them at the wedding!). And that is exactly what we ordered. In fact, margaritas were the reason we went on our first date. I had told Taylor I had found the “Best Margarita in Austin” and the rest is history. At this point, there is one more stop. I ask Taylor to close her eyes and I start driving to Burr Oak Woods, a forest in Blue Springs, Missouri. Poem 4 No more hints, no more clues All I’ll say is we will cruise. Here or there I will not say But I will promise it’s our day. Close your eyes and let it be, Soon enough you will see. Final Stop: With her eyes still closed, I took Taylor’s hands and led her down a trail towards the spot it was all going to happen! We slipped along the trail as I led Taylor to the right spot. As she opened her eyes, snow covered the ground and sat high above on all the tree limbs. In her words, “I was blinded by the brightness of the snow everywhere. All I could see was you in front of me. Smiling big. Piercing blue eyes.” I got down on one knee, symbolizing the hopeful gratitude of a lifetime with Taylor. I asked the question. She answered, “YES!” Final Poem: My world, my heart, my best friend I want you all until the end. The love we have is so pure, steady, true, and secure. It’s forever I want, I must confess. Will you marry me? Is that a yes!?