It all started late summer of 2015. Gina, an avid gym goer, caught a glimpse of this somewhat tall, out of shape guy that looked familiar. Little did she know, that this beautiful girl, in purple pants, had captured all of my attention. We had met before and were social media friends but never really talked. I swear it was Gina who reached out to me first, but she proved me wrong, as she usually does. We chatted for several weeks and I finally asked her out. She agreed and even allowed me to come to her house to pick her up. We went to the Boat House at Forest Park. It was a great date, but the timing just wasn't right for either of us, and we both went our separate ways.

Fast forward 6 years. Gina's mom, Dana, had went to a psychic who told her that her daughter, Gina needed to wait until the summer for a great guy to come into her life. That psychic somehow knew that I was going to reach out and reconnect with Gina. It had to be fate playing a card. I reached out shortly after. I was able to get Gina to agree to drinks, which during Covid was not an easy task. We met at Sybergs in Arnold on Thursday May 14, 2020. The date lasted for over 5 hours as we chatted all night about anything and everything. It was like we were old friends catching up. I knew that this girl was special. There was something there and I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

I was able to score big brownie points on the second date. When I invited Gina over to my house and offered to cook dinner. Knowing her love for her dog, Remi, I told her that Remi was more than welcome to come. Since that day Remi has had me wrapped around her paw and I would do anything for that dog. I never allowed pets on the furniture, but then came Remi. She is the only dog that I have ever allowed to ride in the front seat of my truck. As Gina told me from the first time we met, "Remi and I are a package deal". It's been the best package I've ever gotten.

Not many people would make such a statement about the dreaded year of 2020. But this was the year it all started. This second first date blossomed into a loving relationship that bloomed into spending the rest of our lives together. Our relationship felt so right that it often seemed surreal. You are always told that when you know you'll know, and with us, we quickly could say that we knew. After 3 months I knew. I remember a weekend at the lake when my aunt asked if this girl was the one and I quickly said yes. This relationship is so easy and we just seemed to fit together. Over the summer we discovered how much we share a love of the lake, spending every possible weekend we could there. We had an incredible summer together.

Gina had a strict policy on meeting the family. She would not introduce a boy to her family until after 90 days. However, I was eager to introduce her to my family. Of course, they loved Gina. They could see how good she was for me and how happy she made me. Once I finally got the opportunity to meet Gina's family, it was at her sisters new home they had just purchased. Gina asked me with only 15 minutes of notice if I wanted to go. I jumped on it. I was dying for a chance to meet her family. So I rushed to clean up, shaved, put on a nice shirt, and shorts. I wanted to make a good impression. I think it worked, because I'm still here.

As we moved into 2021, I knew I was ready to spend my life with this amazing brown eyed, brown haired girl. I knew I could not live the rest of my life without her being a part of it. I started looking at rings. My cousin Thor (yes like the god of thunder) hooked me up with a great jeweler and in a couple of weeks I had the ring. Gina, being her usual self, did not offer any hints about what she would like as a ring. So I went my "goto person", my sister, to get ideas and her thoughts. She agreed with everything I was doing. I wanted to make sure Gina loved ring so I checked with the person who not only looks like her but shares her taste. That person, was her sister Tina. When I told her that I wanted to marry her sister and shared my ideas about the ring, she was pretty ecstatic. She even told me her other half, John, really liked me, and he never liked any of Gina's past boyfriends. The feeling was mutual. I was gaining an amazing wife as well as awesome sister and brother in law.

The next day I called her mother and asked her for her daughter's hand in marriage. She was caught by surprise and said "are you serious". I said yes I am and she said she would love to have me in her family. She gave me her blessings.

After I picked up the ring, I started planning for the perfect time and place to ask Gina. I knew I wouldn't be able to keep this secret long. Gina can be the most inquisitive person. She could have been a private investigator, so needless to say, hiding this secret from her was going to take a lot of coordination. Tina told me to reach out to Jenn, her best friend. We already had a date night planned with Tina and John and Jenn and Scott. We had an igloo booked on a rooftop bar downtown right before Valentines day. I knew this was it. After discussing it with Tina and Jenn, we came up with a masterful plan. Tina would have to call Gina to keep her occupied while I was talking to Jenn. The plans for that evening begin to take shape. Jenn was able to line up a limo and I called ahead to have champagne and chocolate covered strawberries waiting in our igloo.

The big night finally came and I had to have a couple of beers in the afternoon to calm my nerves. I was like a kid on Christmas morning and couldn't wait to see her reaction. We stopped for drinks and appetizers before getting to the igloo. Once there, I knew what I was going to do. I told both Tina and Jenn to have their phones ready after I poured the champagne. So I raised my glass and started to make a toast to Gina. Getting down on one knee and opening the ring box she was clearly stunned and surprised. She said YES!! The ring slid right onto her finger as if it was always meant to be there. She loved the ring and couldn't stop looking at it. The night was a huge success. Neither of us will ever forget it!