We met through my brother, Ryan (who has so gracefully accepted his new name, Ryan W., to avoid confusion). Ryan W. and Ryan S. played basketball together at Middlebury College, a place that has grown so near and dear to our hearts. Prior to our first date, Ryan and I were only acquaintances, exchanging nervous hello's and good game's, but seeing each other quite often in the winter months of basketball season. We both definitely had crushes on each other, but neither one of us pursued until December of 2010, when I (Erin) made the first move. My dad had sent a family text saying that he had gotten 4 celtics tickets through work for a December 19th game against the Pacers (I don't remember that--thanks, Ryan S.) My brother jumped on the chance to take two tickets and I did too, but had no idea who I would bring. I thought about it for about 5 minutes and eventually texted Ryan W. the following: "Do you mind if I ask Ryan Sharry to go to the celtics game with us?" I was a little scared at what his response would be, but now looking back I should've known it would be something along the lines of, "Go for it!" Long story short, Ryan, Ryan, his date, and I all went to the Celtics game where I remember Ryan S. was a goooood 20 minutes late. For those of you who know Ryan, and his lack of urgency in most situations, well, enough said. We had an amazing night and the celtics won!!!!! (I had to look this up--don't remember that part either). After the game, we went to dinner and walked around Boston Common for a while before my mom drove into the city to pick me up (LOL). A couple more dates and weekends in Vermont passed and by February, I again made the first move and asked Ryan if I was his girlfriend (he probably remembers this differently). And the rest? History!

Ryan and I had planned (or so I thought) to go to Incredibrew on the afternoon of April 15th, in Nashua. It's a brew-your-own-beer place that I had gotten Ryan a gift certificate for last Christmas, so we planned on going with my sister, brother-in-law, brother and his girlfriend, Cassie. Ryan had sent a group text about a week before asking if anyone wanted to go, and I should have known something was up by how quickly my siblings both replied, "We're in!!!" We woke up that morning and were going to grab some breakfast in Portsmouth before heading to Nashua. I somehow convinced Ryan to carry all our bags to the car and put our name in at the restaurant while I finished getting ready, and he agreed (such a gentleman). He came back to get me and said there was a 20 minute wait at Colby's, the breakfast place we love. He followed that with "There's a boat show down by Prescott Park that the guys at work told me about, let's go check it out!" I went along with it and we walked the long way to the water. No boats. Like, not a couple boats. No boats. I said this to Ryan and he just kept saying, "I think they're right around the corner." We kept walking out to a pier where there was one guy taking pictures of the scenery. At this point, my work bag that I was carrying was getting a little heavy (DI-VA) so Ryan carried it for me. When we got to the left side, Ryan pointed across the water to Badger's Island (where he used to live, in Maine) and asked if I could see it. I said "Ya, it's literally right there." (So. sassy.) When I turned around, he was down on one knee. I was so confused. So happy. And so sure...of him, of us, of what our time together has been and what our future together would hold. And naturally, my first follow-up question was...."Are we still going to breakfast?"