It all started in the Missoula International Airport bar - Kettlehouse (I HIGHLY recommend their Fish On). Typically, I would get to the airport roughly 30 min prior to departure, but on that day my friend, Sarah O’Brien, had to drop me earlier… 3 hours early to be exact. The airport was a ghost town when I arrived. If you know me, you know I was more than happy to sit at the bar, gaze at the Big Sky country, sip a cold one, and talk with whomever was interesting (a stranger’s just a friend you haven’t met yet), so that’s exactly what I did...

A few people started arriving after about 45 min and I was almost at the end of my first beer, one of which we refer to as “Salad Girl”. Salad Girl sounded like a bored Californian who was eating a Montana salad and she was letting everyone who asked know about it, so it was time for another beer. Salad Girl made some comment and I looked over my right shoulder at her, but, instead, saw Anne walking up.

She took a corner seat at the bar, immediately to Salad Girl’s right, and ordered a tonic water. I noticed Anne kept looking at me and smiling. She and I made eye contact a few times and I was intrigued by her, but also annoyed by Salad Girl and her rambling comments. Anne struck up a conversation with Salad Girl, about what I can’t recall, but I remember Salad Girl saying something and Anne quipped back with a hilariously dry comment that flew right over Salad Girl’s head, landing in my beer. Anne and I made eye contact and I interjected myself into the conversation from across the bar. Eventually some people (not all, we did have a man who kept butting into the conversation from across the bar) could see there was a connection forming and they left us to talk to each other from a distance. I lost track of time and failed to notice that the bar had emptied as I walked down to sit near Anne and keep talking. Anne asked if we should get to the gate and I laughed saying “It’s Missoula. They’ll make an announcement or something. We still have a few minutes”. We paid for our drinks and headed to the gate - we were the last two people on the plane.

As it happened I was sitting in the row directly behind Anne. The row in front of Anne was open, so, when the doors shut, I asked the flight attendant if I could move up. Unfortunately it was a premium row, so she couldn’t let me, but that’s when Anne shot her shot, again (we credit her with hitting on me first), and peeked through the seats to say “You can sit with me if you want!”. I grabbed my bag, confessed my need for distance to my row partner, and jumped at the chance to sit next to Anne. We spent the next hour talking and picked up right where we left off. When we were landing I offered my phone number so I could take her to The Rhino (the BEST dive bar with a huge whiskey selection) if she were ever back in Missoula. She accepted and gave me hers. We said our goodbyes in the terminal (there’s more to this story, but I’m sure you’re just about done reading) and I spent the next couple days trying to figure out a way to text her. So, naturally, I busted out my smoothest opening line and after two days sent her a text… “Hey! There’s a really cool meteor shower tonight if you can make it out from all the light pollution”.

Yes, you read that right. Feel free to cringe as much as you like.

Luckily she responded and the texting commenced. We spent the first 7 weeks of our relationship just texting back and forth, getting to know each other and having fantastic conversations. Every time my phone buzzed I got excited. We set up our second date (we considered the bar and plane the first date) for Labor Day weekend when I was back in Seattle. It lasted roughly 48 hours, she met my sister and cousins (my people), and our time was so easy. It just felt completely natural; like we had known each other for lifetimes. As I said goodbye to drive back to Montana we agreed that we would try to set up more time together.

Anne drove over with Lulu (her dog) later in October for a week. That week turned into two and by the end of it all she agreed she wanted to come back for a longer stay. My job (collegiate softball assistant coach) wasn’t flexible enough for me to travel back to see her, so this was a burden she bore and I worked like heck to support. Luckily her job and her supervisor, Jacquelyn, were supportive and flexible, so Anne essentially moved in. I need to pause and remind everyone that while having a full time job, she was also in the final months of grad school. In October, when Anne extended her stay with me, her parents, Jim and Mary, arranged to come by my house to pick up Lulu and meet this mystery woman who had convinced their daughter to move to another state. Unfortunately, I had to fly out that weekend for a recruiting trip, so I only had 12 hours to make a good impression. Challenge accepted...

I flew out in the wee hours of the morning (3am to be exact) the next day and went recruiting. Unfortunately I when I came home I brought Anne a little gift. I had Covid. We navigated this first big hurdle without any big bumps (outside of the fact that I ended up giving it to her as well) and Anne was her usual, thoughtful, caring self.

By the time November rolled around it was her turn to meet my parents, Dick and Pat. I think I was more nervous than Anne. In fact, I know I was more nervous, but it was all for not. Anne killed it and showed them why I love her so much. Soon, she and I were making plans for the holidays, her birthday, and the future.

We navigated the holidays and spent time with both of our families. At my family's Thanksgiving dinner she got an... introduction to Mitchell family holidays. Imagine the Griswold's but with a louder grandparent who's deaf, knows all the fight songs from the Pac 8, and has had 2 too many vodka on the rocks. Feel free to ask us more about this event when you see us; it's worth it. Anne finished grad school (she killed it and dominated her program) and decided to come back to Montana with me after Christmas.

Anne was full time in Montana in January where she and I spent New Years. It was a cold, hard winter in Montana (high of -10 and lows "feeling like -40") and my job was ramping up big time. My team spent the first 6 weeks of our season on the road. This meant Anne was home alone with 3 dogs every Thursday through Sunday (except for that time that our flight was messed up and I had to drive from Baton Rouge to El Paso). She supported me at every home game and dove in, head first, into my crazy world of "sports ball".

Anne supported me, and our other assistant - Sam, through a really challenging year. I only fell more and more in love with her and knew this was it for me. I was always excited to come home to her and loved finding the time to do little things that filled us both up, like taking the pups to Blue Mountain or hanging with the Twats - shout out to Big Al and Laura. In each other we found laughter, communication, patience, support, and endless amount of love - that sounds like a recipe for marriage, am I right?!

We made plans to move back to Washington and we got engaged (I had had her ring since February). I resigned from my job, listed my house, and we moved back, going full-send. Exactly the way we jumped into our relationship.

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Which has led us to this moment... a wedding!

If you’re still reading, congratulations! This is where our story has paused and is waiting for the next journey to be written. You are one of the people we cherish the most and who will help us continue to write our story. We cannot wait to celebrate with you!