We went for tacos, had cocktails in costumes, and ended up at a karaoke bar where Kyle stood off to the side of the stage encouraging Kirsten while she was sweating bullets singing "Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk About" by Bonnie Raitt. She figured anyone who could look that handsome in a zebra suit and give her the confidence to overcome her fear of singing in public was a keeper. He thought she was the cutest penguin and didn't seem to mind he had invited his best friend on their first date. A few months and lots of trivia nights later, they stopped trying to find something wrong with each other and just accepted they had met their match.

"This was something I'd intended on doing for quite sometime. I waited months to tell her I loved her, even though I knew it was an absolute fact shortly after I met her. I knew it and so did everyone else, but I wanted to make sure it was right. Shortly after confessing my love for her I'd catch my mind wandering in those moments staring at her, 'I'm gonna marry that girl,' they said. Whether she knew it or not, her clever smile and the sunshine glinting off her glasses and jewelry dazzled; then inebriated me with a warm feeling of joy and contentment. 'I'm gonna marry that girl. Yes, yes...we know.' I am ashamed it took me longer than I'd have liked to sort out a ring. Again, I wanted to make sure it was right. Though, when it arrived, nothing had burned a hole in my pocket quite like that stone. To hell with waiting, to hell with some grand gesture. The most vulnerable and honest thing I could do in that moment was to march right up stairs, get on two knees and say, "Nothing in this world is certain, but one thing I'm sure of, is us." Others may say, 'It was the bravest and most terrifying thing I've ever done...' but come on, there was no way she was going to say no.