Our first meeting and love story was several years in the making. I met Ian’s family in 2019 and they immediately took me in as one of their own - I was invited to the family parties, evenings on the boat, and Kroger runs (which inevitably turned into Sam’s and Walmart too, just real quick); they became my home away from home. A couple years later, when I bought my first house, I mentioned needing to find someone to mow the yard and like family does, they had a quick solution for me - Lorie said “I’ll send my son over!” An hour later her son shows up at my door with a mower - I awkwardly said a quick “thanks” and apologize for his mom making him come help this random, helpless stranger, then quickly ran inside to hide as I’m notoriously not good with new people. Little did I know…

A year goes by before our paths would cross again, at his cousin’s wedding. After a weekend of laughing and some flirtatious chatter, it only took a few days for a first date and as they say, the rest is history. It didn’t take long for either of us to realize this was something different, something special. Plus I’d already won over the in-laws, so it was smooth sailing!

Neither of us remember the exact moment we “knew”; maybe it was the way we could make each other laugh in any situation, maybe the way we could carry on deep conversations and never get bored, maybe it was the shared love for Menards, or maybe it is thousand little moments that, combined, tell us we are where we are meant to be: with one another, forever (strolling around Menards).

In October, 2024, we went on a vacation to visit the New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia. On an absolutely stunning fall afternoon, on the side of a mountain, Ian asked me to make him the happiest man in the world. I will spend the rest of our lives doing so… but I’ll also work hard to annoy him just enough because life is all about balance. He promises to do the same.

We are so excited to start the next chapter of our love story!