Brandon is fond of telling people that we met at a conference in Denver, and this worked for a few people, until he was called out on this fabrication by someone who will remain nameless. We met through our shared use of a dating app in 2021. To be fair, it was Covid, so it's not like there were a lot of opportunities to meet people in the traditional way. We had texted back and forth for a while before agreeing to meet in person. Our first meeting got delayed because we had a pretty horrible snowstorm that year. Eventually, we settled on February 13th of 2021 for our official first date. Brandon thought it would be a great idea to take me on a "Tour of Defiance" for our first date. I must admit I was intrigued because I had not seen much of Ohio, and thought it could be an adventure. I drove out to Defiance and Brandon came down to let me in to his apartment above Dos Eppi's and as soon as I walked in the door, he started going through his mail while walking up the stairs. I was not sure about him at that point, but I did learn right away that he was a big fan of multitasking. After walking up the stairs, he showed me into his apartment where he had a Christmas tree in the corner and remarked--do you like my tree? Remember, this was February and he still had a tree up in his apartment. I was not sure what to think at that point about him because he was being very evasive, as was I. After chatting for a few minutes, we drove to a brewery for dinner. He was very excited, but after looking at the menu, I remarked--I can't eat any of this. Brandon being the gentlemen that he is was polite and decided that we could find an alterative. We ended up going to the restaurant by the golf course. It was not the best first date, and we were both a little standoffish. I think at one point or another we have both admitted that we really did not like each other very much during that first date, but we chatted, had some drinks, and terrible pizza before returning to his apartment. He told me that he still wanted to take me on his "tour of Defiance," so I decided to stay a bit longer. We started our "tour of Defiance" bar crawl at Kissner's, then Miami Erie, and finally Spanky's. Every place we went to in Defiance, Brandon ran into someone that he knew. So, I quickly asked him if he was in fact, the KING of Defiance? We both laughed, and talked the rest of the night. After that first night, I was still not sure what would happen because he had told me he was considering going into the miliary that October because he needed a new challenge. But, the very next week we already had a spur of the moment second date where I made him homemade tomato soup and grilled cheese. And the rest is really history.

Brandon is truly a businessman at heart. He is all about budgets and timelines, and as a teacher it serves him well. Except for the fact that he always seems to be on "Brandon time." We had been dating for about 6 months when Brandon began looking for a job in public school. He at one point had 3 or 4 interviews in one day in the early summer of 2021. On my birthday of 2021, he informed me that he had gotten an offer to be an intervention specialist at Bowling Green City Schools. I was thrilled at the prospect of not having to commute between Defiance and Bowling Green, and that it meant our relationship was moving forward, but Brandon had a different first thought. He asked me about the situation at the Rec Center at the college, and if it had a sauna, because for him, that is a non-negotiable item. He did move here a few months later, so needless to say, YES the Rec has a sauna. We talked about moving in together at first, but I was not quite ready. So, he moved in down the street from me. I must admit that I loved living in my quasi-Friends, "Chandler Bing across the hall" existence for a while, but less than a year later, we decided to move into a 3-bedroom apartment together. We lived in our "champagne" brown carpeted apartment for 3 years. It was not the greatest apartment, but it was home. Within a few months, we began looking at houses because Brandon wanted to look for a new investment. We have looked at some great and not so great houses here in Bowling Green. It was not until the summer of 2025 that we found what would become our new home. This brings us to 2026, and we were about to celebrate the 5-year anniversary of our first date. Brandon floated a few different ideas for what he wanted to do to celebrate this millstone. But we finally decided to recreate our first date back in Defiance. We went back to the same restaurant, which had much better food then the first time. We even went back and did our original "tour of Defiance." This time, Brandon mentioned that there were these "blue lights" that he wanted to show me 5 years ago, but did not have the chance. So, Brandon and I hiked down to the intersection of the Maumee and Auglaze rivers in the snow, right outside Fort Defiance. I was in a mini-skirt and high heeled boots, which was not ideal for this adventure, but I went on with the journey. Brandon and I almost fell several times before reaching the outlook in front of Fort Defiance. He told me that to really see the "blue lights" I needed to stand on the railing. I obliged. It was then that he told me to turn around and asked me to marry him. Needless to say, the "blue lights" in Defiance were him. And, almost 5 years to the day we were engaged.