It was a dark and stormy night…

In fact it was a hot and uncomfortably humid July evening in Louisville Kentucky but that opening isn't as grabby

At 7:51pm on July 6th 2019 my wife to be was walking down a sidewalk packed with people enjoying that last golden hour before the sunset.

Despite a valid excuse, She was 20 minutes late to our first date. I used to believe that first impressions were important, that they meant something more than the sum of impressions to come. But that night she showed me I was wrong and changed me for the first of many times. She walked right up to me and gave a second impression that I'm still recovering from 5 years later.

It started with her laugh; like the first sign of spring, wildflowers poking through a frost covered field of grass. Thankfully her laughs are more common than that and I try often (and perhaps using too many bad puns) to bring about a smile, then a giggle, and finally the music of her laugh that I fell in love with long before we ever said those words to each other.

That was the first quality I noticed in her that showed me this was something different, soon after other parts of her joined that same list. Day by day and date by date we learned about each other and I was shown all the aspects of her that I dearly love.

Her strength through hard times inspires me, the resilience that she not only holds for herself but freely lends to others in need. Her patients, her friends, and her family (and now mine) can all attest to this and would have even more to say about her kindness and tenacity.

As time went on our guards came down and we went from strangers to friends to partners and so we felt comfortable being more and more silly with each other. Goofiness is an oft overlooked quality in a partner but it's one I cherish. It's fair to say that she's right when she says "It's like we're sharing one brain cell" and while sad it's also very true and makes our lives all the happier because of it. At least twice a week we both have the same exact ridiculous thought at the same time and we'll give each other a long side-eyed stare as if to say "Get. out. of. my. head."

Please indulge me and allow me to jump ahead in our story, past memories and adventures, love, losses, and more right to the night of the proposal. I had gotten the ring and made all of the arrangements completely in secret. Our families were gathered and waiting anxiously in the restaurant next door and I. Was. Nervous!

But I wasn't nervous for the reasons I thought I would be whenever I imagined this moment in my head. I knew she would say yes. I'm not sure I could have even expressed the real reason I was scared that night, but thinking about it over time the true answer has come to me. Wasn't all of this too easy? Where were the fights, the break ups and reunions? The miscommunications and the deal breakers? I couldn't even rely on the old trope of having future in-laws who didn’t approve of me or were overly protective of their daughter.

There was none of that, and for some reason that scared me more than if there had been all of it. But now I know that it was a foolish thing to be worried about, and I’m truly lucky to have found this life with her. Despite the effort we both put in every single day, loving her feels effortless, and being loved by her is a gift.

I never thought I'd find someone who would make it so easy for me to say "Will you marry me?". But she made it that way, and I look forward to our future together, and the words "I do" being just as easy to say on September 28th, 2024.

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