It's true. Ask Sage the story of how he tried to keep me away before we had even started talking.

Luckily for both of us God had other plans. My stomach led me to pizza and beer and the cute bartender was a nice touch.

The next time he tried to keep me away was a couple of years into dating where he suddenly "wasnt sure about marriage and didnt want to be pressured". All to throw me off the trail and propose to me a few months later! Riskay game he was playing.

The proposal was a fun story though! I convinced Sage to go swimming with Whale Sharks with me. There was a zero percent chance he was going to get in the water, and he told me this before the trip, but I think he was trying to impress me before he popped the question. I would have said yes regardless, but now we have cool pictures of us swimming with whale sharks too.

Life has been pretty much perfect ever since. We finally got our house which was several years into the making! And in an ever-lessening number of days I get to marry the love of my life.

I guess this is a story about love overcoming. Overcoming the fear of open water and whale sharks, and overcoming instagram privacy policies.

Despite what she says… I never tried to keep her away.

The real story is, that this cute girl has come into a bar I was working at the time. I invited "Karissa" and her friend to play Super Smash Bros with us. Things went well, but then I had to close the bar, so everyone left. After cleaning the bar, I decided to meet up with some friends at another bar down the street. And she was there! After pretending to not notice for some time, I decided to go over to their table and test the waters. I was definitely interested in Karissa, but it honestly felt like she was trying to set me up with her friend the whole time, kinda odd. So the end of the night comes, and we part ways. I didn't get her number because, after the night of her trying to set me up with her friend, I really didn't know where I stood.

After getting home that night, I decided to do some research. I tried to find this "Karissa" on social media. Really, I was just trying to see if she had a boyfriend in case our paths ever crossed again. I FOUND HER! I found her Instagram account, which seemed pretty innocent. As I'm scrolling, I become more and more tired. And in my mind, I'm thinking, "Dude, go to bed. You've found her, you continue this tomorrow. Go to bed before you accidentally do something stupid." The next thing I know, I'm waking up in a panic with my phone in my hand. I did it. I made the worst mistake possible: I had "liked" one of her photos way down the feed, like something she had posted years prior. I'm such an idiot. This girl I met one time, who did not give me her contact or social media info was going to know I was creeping her account! So I did the only logical thing I could do at this point: I "unliked" the photo, and blocked her on Instagram. (the logic being, if she was blocked, she wouldn't would NOT get a notification that "Sage has liked your picture from 2 years ago")

The next day at the bar, I told my friends about my real-life nightmare. My story was met with lots of laughs, and criticism. They thought I was wrong for blocking her, instead I should have just sent her a friend request. Dammit! That probably would have worked.

Well, a couple of months passed, and I hadn't seen Karissa again since that fateful night. Until one day, I'm working at the bar which is super slow. As I'm wiping the bar down, I see this cute girl walking her dog in front of the huge bar windows. As I'm checking her out, she looks over right at me! Again, in a panic, I do the only logical thing to do in that situation, I quickly go back to cleaning the bar top and pretend like I wasn't just staring. A few seconds after she is outside of the view of the windows I realize, "NO!! That was her! That was Karissa, the girl I blocked on IG." Again, I told my friends what had happened, and they again, were quick to remind me how foolish I am. A few even told me they had seen her walking her Corgi around the downtown area. She would now be known as Corgi girl.

It would be a few weeks before I would see Karissa again. This time was again at the bar. She had come in a couple of times for pizza. Again, I did the only logical thing someone in my position would do, and I played it cool like I didn't know her. Eventually, I asked for name (as if I didn't know), and now that we were acquainted, things remained innocent. That's until my friend Kameron seized the opportunity for me... kind of..

I think Karissa had gotten up from the bar to use the restroom or something, and I had told Kameron, "that's her! That is the Corgi girl." I think Kameron had taken this as his cue to play Cupid. I overheard him talking to Karissa, and it really sounded like he was fishing for ways to see if she was interested in me. Totally felt like it was 8th grade again, how embarrassing. A couple of hours later, it's "last call" at the bar, and I am trying to get everyone to close their tabs. The bar top was full of patrons, including Karissa and Kameron, as well as a line of people (most of these people my friends and regulars) at the bar trying to close their tabs. That's when Kameron basically yells "Do you like my friend Sage? He has a crush on you!" Or something to that effect. I don't remember his exact words, I just remember a rush of sweat and everyone staring at me. It was so embarrassing. But honestly, that was probably the best thing that could have happened.

From there, the rest is history. It may have taken a long time to get the fire started, but it's burning! I found the one that I want to spend the rest of my days with. Love is a funny thing. I wasn't looking for love that day, but the universe just has its way of making sure that what is supposed to be, will be.