While we can't exactly agree on what year it was, Jon and I met sometime between 2008 and 2009. We can agree it was during Halloween on State Street! Jon was rocking smudgy guy-liner and a fantastic long-hair wig, while I was trying my hardest to be "sexy" in the most recent Victoria's Secret Angel costume

Whoa, Molly TMI TMI...not so much detail. Ahem. We met in 2008. We parted ways due to life. Then we met again and started hanging out. Then we started dating. And then...

Jon! That's not how it went-there's so much more to it than just we met, parted, and met again. Where was I? Ah, yes, well, I was going to school in Minnesota at the time so I was just visiting Madison for the weekend. Jon had graduated college and had moved back to Madison. So yes, we parted ways after a festive weekend, but made sure to keep in touch via text and Facebook.

Much better, nice. Please continue.

We did eventually lose touch...due to life I suppose? Jon moved to California and I stayed in Minnesota for some time. And Jon stopped updating his Facebook profile, and more or less vanished....until 2022.

Yeah don't even get me started on Facebook. 2022 started the good old cringey Bumble days. If anyone has used this app, it's mostly a waste of time.

I'm going to stop you right there. NOT a waste of time. I was also on Bumble at this time....the dating pool in Milwaukee was......sub-par. It was a Saturday and I was in my bedroom swiping, but feeling ultra annoyed by my options so I started aggressively swiping left....until....SHIT, I think I know that guy I just swiped past. I shook my phone to retrieve my most recent left swipe and lo and behold, it was Jon!

Well yes mostly a waste of time as in except for you, Molly!

Though still living in Madison at the time, I had been helping a friend with some side work in Milwaukee. Before returning to Madison, I decided to fill up the gas tank. At that moment, my phone sent me a notification that I had a match on Bumble. I couldn't believe who it was! We immediately exchanged numbers and the rest is history. Anything else, babe?

Well, almost. It wasn't long before we decided to meet up. I remember hoping he would still be "into" me and worried that maybe we wouldn't click the way we did when we were younger-it had been 13 or 14 years since we had last seen each other!

We had a great time, and I obviously felt the same way about her. In May of 2023 we moved in together and celebrated our first anniversary. I proposed September 8th of2024, and here we are. If you're still reading this, good job. Drinks on me at cocktail hour.

Wow, way to skip over all the good stuff there! So yeah, he moved in, we celebrated our one year anniversary and got a dog together. Hi, Sevro! We love you, our little Piddler on the Roof! Fast forward to 2024, we added chickens to our household annnnnd got engaged on a camping trip that ALMOST didn't happen! You'll have to ask Jon about that one ;).

Yeah I somehow injured my shoulder really bad while packing the truck the day we were supposed to leave. Molly insisted that we cancel and I go to Urgent Care. Little did she know, we were going on this trip no matter what! I refused to be seen, took some pain killers, and off we went. Seriously if you're still reading this...

My gosh, Jon! The people want to know our story! We drove up to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore for a week of camping, hiking....all of the rugged things. We got settled into our camp site the first night and arose early the next day to make breakfast and get out for our first hike! Unfortunately, the first trail we wanted to take wouldn't allow dogs so we started driving further along the coast, each option we passed, Jon asking if we'd be able to see Lake Superior and if it was, "romantic." I should have known he was up to something!

You're darn right! We needed a lake view for this occasion! The trail we found was perfect - Sable Falls. We made it to the lake, but we needed some privacy away from fellow hikers. I suggested we walk a ways down the beach, with Molly dragging her feet the whole way telling me she didn't want to walk so far. We finally came upon a large piece of driftwood for us to sit down on.

Hey! I wasn't dragging my feet! It was difficult to walk on the sand and you had said the view was better...but it was the same whether we were 100 yards or 100 feet down from the end of the falls!

Well the driftwood was one-of-a-kind, you'll have to admit. Petrified and all...hah! I thought it'd be a great time for a picture, so I asked Molly to grab my phone out of my backpack. But my phone wasn't in my backpack, oh no. She found the box!

I thought it was weird that he wanted a picture of THIS specific view...remember I said it was all the same, but I went along with his instructions to grab his phone from the front zippered pouch. Upon opening the zipper, I saw the box, and I panicked. I looked at him and asked, "Am I supposed to see this right now?"

Yep! I got down on one knee She said yes. And I think I can now say with full confidence that the rest. Is. History. This concludes book one of the Egel-Rapraeger Saga.

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