The countdown has begun!

It all started during the summer of 2022, when Lauren came home from Michigan to South Dakota to celebrate her dad's birthday. This trip back home put Collin and Lauren within close enough proximity to find each other in overlapping circles.. overlapping Tinder radiuses, that is. (Yep, we will come clean here: it all started with a swipe.) After talking via text for a couple of days, they decided they needed to go on a proper date before Lauren had to go back to Michigan for school. Neither of them would've guessed that dinner date would turn into hours of driving around talking about everything under the sun and finding the person they would spend the rest of their lives with. Lauren had to go back to Michigan, though, and Collin had to stay in South Dakota. Yet somehow, they started a relationship from multiple states apart. (Thank God for FaceTime, postcards, and good communication.) That's how they spent the first six months until Lauren graduated with her bachelor's degree and came home to South Dakota. Ever since, they've lived one hour apart. As annoying as medium-distance gets, they do their best to remind each other of when it was so much harder. They've evolved from FaceTime study dates to in-person study dates, and they'll take that win any day. There is no specific moment that either of them can pinpoint as to "the moment they knew", but they both attribute their confidence in the relationship to how easily their lives fit together. From the very beginning, communication has seemed smooth and easy. Life together is fun and full of laughter, and time apart is spent feeling like something is missing. Anyone who knows Collin and Lauren knows that school pretty much runs their lives. (Collin even almost rescheduled the proposal because he was worried it would interfere with Lauren's study schedule.. what a guy.) Dinner conversations often drift to "Guess what I learned today?" or "Did you know that there's a tablet version of Wegovy now!?", and somehow, study breaks aren't really breaks, but that's okay. The balance of pharmacy student and medical student allowed both to have the understanding for what each other is going through without feeling like they are dating themselves. The perfect pair. As much fun as they have being in school together, they are both anxiously looking forward to the day when deadlines and exam dates no longer run their lives. Collin graduated pharmacy school in May, and Lauren.. well, Lauren still has a ways to go. Luckily, no matter what lies ahead and no matter where life takes them, they know they will have each other.

As mentioned above, school runs the lives of both Lauren and Collin, so when Collin had planned weeks ahead of time that he would be in Yankton on the particular weekend of December 13th and had Lauren mark it on the calendar, Lauren didn't bat an eye. She simply appreciated the planning ahead. (Usually, she's the one who does most of that.) It was when he commented that she shouldn’t do multiple different colors on her nails, and when he mentioned that he had made a dinner reservation, that she became just the tiniest bit suspicious. Collin played it so cool the entire day leading up to the proposal that Lauren almost completely talked herself out of her suspicions. "He would've shown some kind of hint by now," she thought as she was putting on makeup for their dinner reservation. Collin had discovered a city Christmas light display across the street from Lauren's apartment and used this as his guise to get her to leave early for the dinner reservation. There had been a little pushback from Lauren. “The sun isn’t even down,” she pointed out. “The lights won’t even be on yet.” But Collin insisted that the two of them go see the lights before walking to the restaurant (also nearby). When the Christmas lights weren't on and Collin continued leading Lauren down the snow-covered sidewalk anyway, her previously dampened suspicions quickly rose again. Once they crossed under to the other side of the bridge, Collin asked Lauren to watch the sunset with him, his nervousness now beginning to show. Watching the sunset only lasted a moment or two before Collin turned to Lauren and began his speech. (The details of which are theirs to know.) Lauren couldn't contain her happy tears, much to the dismay of the photographer Collin had waiting. In the end, Collin got down on his knee and asked the question you all see coming. Lauren, of course, said “yes,” but not without first asking Collin, “Are you sure?” between sobs of shock and happiness. So technically, Collin said "yes" first, but who's really counting?