Better Together

We first met in the 3rd grade as dancing partners for the Decorah Nordic Dancers. I hated dancing with him because his hands were always covered in diamond dirt or fish guts. If you ask Gavin, that didn't stop me from holding his hand throughout the whole practice. The next years of Nordic dancing we drifted as partners as I moved up in the height order and Gavin remained the same.

The summer of 2011 we began to talk as friends, we were both busy with softball and baseball so didn't have much time to hang out. We made an effort to make it to each other’s games. Later that summer we were at a fourth of July party at the Jewell Farm with a bunch of classmates having a bonfire next to the Upper Iowa River. After watching fireworks we were about to go home for the night. Gavin asked me if I would be his girl friend. My response was a shrug of the shoulders and the word "Sure..." Gavin still wont let me forget about my unexcited response to a very exciting moment.

It was the day before Easter and Gavin and I were just hanging out at my house with the family. After a recent storm, there was a mudslide at Palisades park. He suggested we go take a look, and he would buy us ice cream after. He knows ice cream will get me to go anywhere. Lizzie, Gavin and I got in the car and drove to the park. When we couldn't see the damage from the road we decided to go to the top and look out on the overlook. It was here, after 6 years of dating, that Gavin got down on one knee and proposed. This time I made sure to say "Yes!" Unfortunately there is no documentation of this event thanks to Lizzie. Gavin had texted Lizzie on the way to the park to have her camera ready, but Lizzie failed to look at her messages. Even though she was on her phone the whole time with her camera ready, she was unaware of the moment. Instead of taking a picture, she turned around to give us some privacy like a great sister would.