On New Year’s Day 2019, the St. Louis Blues were firmly in last place in the Western Conference—and nearly all St. Louisans know about what comes next. A remarkable turnaround. A spirited playoff run. A stunning, first-time Stanley Cup victory by the hometown Blues.

Out of this fairy tale blossomed its own bit of serendipity—Kelsey and Tim would meet at the Blues’ nail-biting, double over-time Game 7 win in Round Two of the playoffs. Kelsey’s brother-in-law Caleb had an extra ticket last minute—Caleb’s partner, Kelsey’s brother Josh, doesn’t much care for hockey—and his friend and co-worker Tim, a Blues fan and himself a hockey player, seemed the perfect +1. On that night, it seemed that fate had pre-ordained that the team would soon hoist the Cup—and so too that Kelsey and Tim would become a team of their own. She would come to realize his sports obsessions were not limited to hockey (he barely missed a BattleHawks game…and he has been to nearly every City SC home game as well). He would soon see that her wild clan of siblings would provide a rigorous hazing before granting entry into the family. But both realized early on that, like any great team, they complemented each other quite wonderfully.

Kelsey and Tim weathered Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals together, multiple trips both at home and abroad, family dinners with contentious arguments and raucous laughter, a high-anxiety rescue dog with a talent for chewing through wooden doors, and a global pandemic. And they wouldn’t have had it any other way.

All proposals seem to begin, counter to the foundations of any long-lasting love, with a deception. Tim rather abruptly dropped out of Kelsey’s brother Zach’s 30th birthday trip to New York. Work deadlines, he said. Little did she know the siblings were in on the ruse—that he was flying separately to surprise her, with a ring in tow.

Kelsey seemed spacey and somewhat crestfallen on her first night in the Big Apple, clearly missing Tim and not shy about speculating to her present siblings (ad nauseam) about why he might have called off the trip so last minute.

At Craft restaurant near Gramercy Park in Manhattan, Tim was lying in wait near the kitchen entrance while Kelsey and her brothers were escorted to a table with one mysterious extra seat at the “birthday dinner”. (Fun fact: despite that the restaurant was forewarned about the proposal, the hostess nearly spoiled the surprise by directing us over to “Tim’s” table. Luckily Kelsey didn’t hear). Kelsey’s chair had barely scooted in and her feet planted on the ground when Tim swooped in and swept her off of them. They embraced, with her processing her confusion, before he dropped to one knee.

She obviously said yes, or you wouldn’t be reading this.