How Josh and I met was by sheer luck. It was 2020, and I was living near Grand Rapids in a small town called Belding. I wanted to search for some friends on Facebook dating; mind you, I specifically selected the “Friendship Only” and “Looking to Chat” to reach out to new people. I was very much not looking to date anyone at this time. I’d been burned too many times and figured this would be a great way for me to get out of the house and create new experiences with friendly people. Now Joshua just so happened to be near me while he was traveling for work in Montague when we found each other on the site. He was there for only a few days, originally coming from around Flint (Like I said, sheer luck we met!) He was ecstatic he matched with me; I, however, was looking for someone to go to concerts with, check out interesting events, or just to explore around Michigan (haha). What really made me think differently about him though was the first message he sent. It read, “You have really beautiful eyes.” And let me tell you, my heart melted, and I screamed internally. I didn’t want anything deep and to get in my feelings about him, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone tell me that before. Not seriously at least! From there I thought, maybe he’d be worth giving a shot at dating.

We got to know each other a little through our messages and Josh eventually asked if I’d like to go out for a few drinks and dinner. Little did he know, I’m crazy enough to drive on a whim to meet with a complete stranger (haha!), and I agreed to meet him at the place he was staying. He did not expect some random girl on the internet to just show up on a Thursday for a date!

He nervously waited (I could tell, and it was very cute), and I eventually pulled up to the place he was staying at in Montague. He met me at my car and I jumped out and gave him a hug. He still tells me to this day, “I’ll never forget how cute that jump out of your Jeep was.” He took me for a tour around the town and showed me the place he was working at. He also mentioned he works with robotics, and I thought, “Wow! What a nerd! I’d like to learn more about that!” We later found a brewery for drinks and then went on the hunt for a place to eat. This being 2020 although, and at the height of the pandemic, not too many places were open. We eventually came across this cute restaurant and talked about the places we’d been and places we wanted to see and the things we wanted to experience. I knew right then that we both have so much in common with our adventurous souls. We also both just somehow had the same sense of humor! We laughed and teased and shared stories about what made us who we are and from there, I knew I wanted to keep seeing him.

He lived in Grand Blanc, and I rented in a town called Belding. Now, if you were to look at google maps, it’ll tell you that that’s roughly an hour and forty-minute drive... I had friends tell me that’s quite the trip just to see someone, but I knew he was worth it. He and I traded the times we’d make trips to visit. I’d show him a little of Grand Rapids’ sights and events and he’d show me what a wonderful, fun family he had, and we’d all go on adventures up north to visit Sage Lake.

This went on for nearly a year of us driving back and forth, messaging and making wonderful memories; but eventually, we both decided it was time for this girl to just move in already!! Josh helped me move the bigger furniture I had, and we both said goodbye to my little shoebox apartment in Belding. *The photo that goes along with this memory was me taking some final pictures of the place. I did love that cozy apartment!*

So roughly two years of us being a couple of cute dorks living together, he planned an “anniversary date night” for us before we went north to his family’s cabin on Sage Lake. I wore a blue dress with flowers, and he took me to a restaurant of my choice, and I was craving some carb-loaded Italian food. Afterwards, we hopped in his Jeep and headed up North for the weekend. He smiled and listened to me awkwardly belt out songs that I queued up, (mostly from Queen haha) and we finally arrived at the dock to be boated over by his brother Shaun to the cabin. Once we were there, I noticed it was very dark and I thought everyone else was inside sleeping. After a moment, Josh threw my duffle bag on the ground and I went, “Oh no! What’re you doing?! It’s going to get all wet!!” He pulled out his phone and told Google, “Megan’s here!” to which Google said, “Here’s some information about Megan.” Now I was very confused at this point, I had no idea why he was telling his phone I was there and why he needed information about me. Apparently, he didn’t say it quite right but when he finally did say “Megan IS here!”, like magic, the boardwalk lined with LEDs lit up like a wave to the cabin, a giant light curtain flashed on in the back, and music from out of nowhere gradually got louder. His whole family hiding in different areas of the yard, orchestrating this big moment for us, was honestly the sweetest thing I could ever imagine. He got down on one knee and asked me the big question, and while I tried to hold back tears I said, “Of course I’ll marry you!” Not a second later, fireworks erupted over the lake and we held each other in the most perfect moment where time stood still for us. That’s where we are today, happy, and engaged and excited to finally get down the aisle to say our “I do’s” in front of our family and friends.

So there’s a million different dating apps out there and I felt as if I had tried them all. Talked to way too many people, attempted a few dates that just didn’t feel right or didn’t end up going anywhere, to the point where I was basically giving up on the whole online dating idea. Then I got a notification from Facebook to try out their new dating app that they just recently released. I thought maybe I’ll have a better chance with this one while it’s brand new and hasn’t been flooded with a bunch of creeps yet so I gave it a shot. While creating my account, there were a few options to select so I checked the boxes for “Chatting”, “Friendship”, AND “Long-term Relationship”. I wanted that best friend that I could easily talk to who and I could easily picture the rest of my life with…

At the time, my job required me to travel to different parts of the world, most of the time by plane. This particular project I was working on just so happened to be on the opposite side of Michigan, so instead of flying, I rented a car and drove my butt to the west side of the state. With some time to spare and bored in my hotel room, I figured I’ll check out this dating app and see if there are any interesting people in this little town called Montague with a population of what seemed like only a hundred people. Having little faith in yet another dating app I swiped left on many. Then, this cute little innocent looking girl popped up and without even second guessing… I swiped right… but thought I probably won’t even match this one, she’s way out of my league. As soon as I swiped right, the app said, “IT’S A MATCH!” I couldn’t believe it! She must have accidentally swiped on me; “she probably won’t even message me back”, I thought. I sat there for the next hour or so, trying to think of something to say. I didn’t want to be cheesy or ruin the conversation before it had even started but I was fixated on her eyes. They were so beautiful in every one of her pictures, I could tell she was different than most others who tried to photoshop every detail of their appearance. Her eyes were genuine, both innocent and sincere. Continuing to doubt she would even respond; all I could conjure up was to tell her how beautiful I thought her eyes were. The rest of the night I sat in my hotel watching tv and constantly checking my phone, hoping for a message back.

The next day I received a message back! At the time, she was working the night shift so she hadn’t seen my message until she finally woke up around noon. From then on, we began messaging back and forth, day and night, non-stop! I remember thinking, this girl just gets me! We had so many similarities and common interests that she just seemed too perfect to be real! I had to meet her in person. Completely forgetting that I was staying in a hotel for the week, I asked if she would be interested in meeting up for dinner. She asked if I lived in Grand Rapids… and that’s when I thought it was all over before it had even started. How’s this girl going to handle the thought of me living on the complete opposite side of the state. I think I made some joke about not technically in the rapids but definitely still grand! As I lived in Grand Blanc, I explained how I was actually staying in a hotel for the week and was only over to the west side for work. In the end, she still agreed to dinner and said she’d meet me at my hotel so that we can look for something together since neither of us had been to Montague before to know of any good places to pick. I thought this girl is crazy! There’s no way she’s real if she’s going to meet some stranger at a hotel in a place she’s never been to. I’m totally being pranked or cat-fished by this person! But I still had to meet this girl!

After work on Thursday, I raced back to my hotel and tried to find something to wear. Only bringing work attire on this trip, I was not prepared for going on a date with anyone. Luckily I had a pair of shorts and a clean t-shirt I could throw on to at least try and look like a normal human being. I was so nervous, pacing back and forth in my hotel room I was constantly looking out the hotel window to see if she had arrived yet. Then, a red Jeep liberty turned into the hotel and slowly found a parking spot. I thought, oh my gosh she drives a Jeep! Everyone who knows me, knows that I’m a huge Jeep fan. My clean t-shirt that I threw on, literally, was a Jeep t-shirt. I was so excited I skipped the elevator and ran down the stairs of the hotel. Walked outside and she had just texted me that she arrived. Realizing that I had just walked all the way to her car before she even got out of her Jeep, I nervously stood there waiting, probably looking very awkward. The driver’s door opened, and this tiny little girl hopped out, both feet together with the biggest smile on stretched across her face. I just remember standing there awestruck like “wow, this girl is perfect!” It was the cutest thing I had ever seen… her bubbly personality just glistened all around her as she hopped out and said “Hi, I’m Megan!” I gave her a big hug as I introduced myself and then we went off to explore the town and find someplace to eat!

We toured around town for a bit, even stopped by the place I was working at for the week as I explained I was just a nerd who basically plays with robots all day for my career. We then stopped at a little brewery in town for drinks and continued chatting to get to know each other better. A few hours flew by so fast as the conversations never went dull. She was just so easy to talk to I just kept thinking how awesome this girl was. Eventually getting hungry, we decided to find someplace to eat. Unfortunately, since it was the middle of the pandemic of 2020, we had to wear masks and social distance from everyone. Finding a place to eat was more difficult than we had expected as everything was either closed already or about to close. Driving around in what now seemed to be a ghost town, we were starving. Megan was calling places to see if they were even open as I drove through the parking lots of different restaurants checking the front doors for any signs of openness. It was our very first adventure together and even though we were both starving by this time, we continued laughing and joking and I was just enjoying every second of it. Thankfully, we found one place still open and even though we were literally the only two people in the entire restaurant, they stayed open just long enough to serve us some amazing dishes. To me, it was the perfect first date and I could already picture myself spending the rest of my life with this girl. When the time finally came where we had to depart and go our separate ways, I anxiously asked if she could foresee a second date in the future and she, without hesitation, gladly replied “Of course!”

For the next year, each and every weekend, we would take turns driving the nearly 2-hour drive across the state just to see each other. I knew she was worth it. She would give me different tours of Grand Rapids each time I was out there showing me all her favorite spots. I would try to return the excitement with the best of Grand Blanc, even though it is literally like 100th the size of Grand Rapids. Yet still we always made the best of it. Every new adventure together just made me fall for her even more. We always have a great time together no matter where we are and so the thought of her possibly moving in with me started floating around. I made some good arguments as I explained how much more time we could spend together if she just moved in with me already and that I would of course make some room in my dressers for all her clothes. Surprising me yet again, she agreed to move in! We spent the next couple of weekends packing up her things and then we finally said goodbye to her little shoebox apartment.

Fast forwarding a couple years, through some great adventures and a lot of laughs, I mean a lot of laughs! haha Loving every second with this girl, I decided that it was time. Yep, it was THAT time. That time where I ask the biggest question in a relationship. Will she marry me?? I got right into the planning, hand designing a ring that she would love, questioning all of her friends and family on every little detail and just trying to coordinate the perfect proposal… all while trying to keep everything a secret!

And so the day came, our “anniversary date night” I called it in hopes that she still had no idea of all the scheming going on behind her back… teeheehee. I told her I wanted to do a nice dinner, just the two of us getting all fancy, dressed up, and relax before we headed north to spend the 4th of July weekend with the family at the lake house. Trying to be less conspicuous, I made her pick the restaurant and we sat down to eat at a fancy and very delicious Italian restaurant. It was the perfect start to my plans. She looked beautiful in her floral blue dress and those sparkling pretty eyes; so happy and relaxed as we devoured our meals. What could go wrong, I thought!

Once we finished, we hopped in my Jeep and began our adventure up north! I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I loved her and how happy she always makes me as I watched her just sing her heart out to what seemed like EVERY song by Queen, Aerosmith, David Bowie, etc. haha all while attempting to sing along and hide any signs of my master plan now in motion.

We finally arrived at the lake and I am now super nervous. We grab our stuff to head out to the dock for Shaun (my youngest brother) to pick us up on the boat. And at this point, all my planning began to fail… First, I needed it to be completely dark so that the lights I had set up the previous weekend (shout out to my Pops for helping me with that!) would show up clearly because they weren’t super bright. With my luck, it happened to be a full, glowing moon that night without a cloud in the sky! To me it seemed like it was basically daylight and my displays weren’t going to work! Next, Megan decided to put on an old coat to go out on the boat… covering her beautiful dress for these surprise photos. I tried to hurry her to the dock and suggested we come back for our stuff in the morning since it was already “so late and I am tired” but her cute little stubbornness then decided to carry MORE stuff for me instead. Watching my plan fall apart so fast, I just pushed on and we carried EVERYTHING down to the dock. The lake was silent and calm as we waited for Shaun to arrive. After a couple failed phone calls and no texts getting through, I realize, I have no service to message Shaun that we have arrived. I now have no idea how we are going to get to the house! Starting to freak out internally, trying to keep calm and relaxed in front of Megan who I hoped still had no idea, we heard a faint motor sound echoing across the water from the other side of the lake. THANKFULLY, Shaun was paying attention to my location through Snapchat and tried timing the pickup perfectly to our arrival. What had felt like 30 minutes of shear panic, was actually only about 5 minutes of watching Shaun drive across the lake and pick us up. THANK YOU AGAIN SHAUN!

Finally, we loaded up and headed to the lake house, where it’s about to happen. Not wanting to look weird pacing back and forth on the boat as my nerves were eating me alive (also trying to hide this giant ring box in my shorts pocket) I decided to just sit down and try to relax for the short ride. As I sit, I feel my butt instantly wet from the dew on the seats… Panicking now even more I quickly try drying my pants off on a few towels. All I could think of was now my Khaki shorts were going to look like I peed myself in these pictures that were about to take place as I got down on one knee! Megan, just laughing at me saying it’s fine, we’re at the lake now and no one is going to see anyway! We then arrived!

The house was completely turned off, making it look like a ghost town with everyone asleep. I scrambled to try and grab everything before Megan had the chance so that she wasn’t holding anything… but she would not let go of that pillow. Squeezing it tight with stubbornness so that I wouldn’t grab it from her, she quickly jumped off the boat giggling as she sang “Don’t stop me now, having such a good time!”… yes, by Queen… I hurried up ran off the dock to get ahead and said one sec! I have something to show you! She paused for a second as I yelled out, “OK GOOGLE, Megan’s here"…. Which google then decided to respond, here’s some results for Megan. Another panic attack instantly began as I had previously set up a routine to activate all my lights and it was not happening. Retrying 2 or 3 times with the same “web results” from Google and Megan just standing there completely confused to what I was trying to do and now getting upset that I just dropped her bag on the wet grass… I finally realized I had to say “OK GOOGLE, MEGAN IS HERE” not the shortened version Megan’s here! Quickly saying the correct sentence, google responded “Welcome Megan” and it was like magic! The lights rolled down the boardwalk and the trees began to light up.

The giant light curtain hanging from the porch flashed on with scrolling text I set to “Will you marry me”, Matthew hidden up on the porch handling the music as the volume slowly grew louder, my parents hidden behind different trees taking pictures and videos, and Megan just standing there so adorably… still just squeezing her pillow tight to her chest, mesmerized by everything that was happening. I slowly got down on one knee as she turned back to me… trying to get out the entire paragraph of thoughts that I originally had planned to say in this moment… I could barely speak, I had to look so dorky. Stumbling a few more words I finally thought to just skip to the question… “Megan Marie Lehre, Will you marry me?” And without any hesitation, her eye’s teared up with joy and she shouted, “Of course I’ll marry you!” At that moment, my Dad ignited the fireworks and we held each other tightly as we watched them explode over the water.

Even though so many parts of my plan had gone to shit, in that moment I was reminded that everything happens for a reason. I was surrounded by the best family I could ever have to make all of this even possible (I can’t thank them enough!) Beside me stood the girl of my dreams, her presence alone outshining any flaw in the plan. Lost in our own little world frozen in time… I slipped the ring onto her finger, and I knew I was the luckiest man in the world.

And so, under the twinkling lights and the starry sky, our journey begins, a journey of love, laughter, and a lifetime of memories. It was the perfect proposal, not because it went according to plan, but because it was uniquely ours, and it's just the beginning of our forever. <3