Monday, April 1st, 2019 I walked into work expecting it to be like any other Monday, what I did not expect to happen was that I would meet my best-friend and love of my life that morning. At the time I was working for Clarios (formerly Johnson Controls) in Oconee, South Carolina. I was in my last leg of a two-year leadership rotational program where I moved from St. Joseph, Missouri to Wilsonville, Oregon to Oconee.

The company we worked for is the world leader in producing lead acid car batteries so as you might assume the production facilities are not the most appealing place for young, attractive women to work. For those of you not aware of the conditions hourly employees have to deal with brutal temperature conditions, no A/C on the plant floor, and constant lead exposure. Due to the following conditions, I had no expectation that I would meet my future fiancé in one of the plants along my two-year journey.

Every morning at the Oconee facility, the plant leadership team would hold a Manager’s meeting to discuss important topics and lingering issues. One of the perks of being in the rotational program was that I got to sit in on leadership conversations. That morning a new EHS Manager was starting at the facility, Ms. Lauren Butner. As soon as I walked into the meeting room Lauren’s presence immediately caught my attention, with her beautiful hair, glowing smile and cute southern twang.

As the meeting started, Keith (Plant Manager) prompted everyone in the room to introduce themselves with their name and job title. As people were introducing themselves, I thought to myself I need to do something creative to capture Lauren’s attention. Now I am not the smoothest or most confident person so introductions for me can sometimes come off as awkward and corky but something about that day was different.

Once it got to my turn I “smoothly” introduced myself and my title, “Jordan Mueller, unimportant.” Now you might say, Jordan why would you ever use that as a pickup line but that comment did exactly what I had hoped, everyone in the room started laughing and it got Lauren’s attention. What I did not know at that time was that I was introducing myself to the person that would make me feel the exact opposite way every day of my life moving forward.

Through helping her move into her new apartment, to telling her that I wanted her to be my girlfriend through SNAPCHAT, to dating long distance during COVID, to her moving to Wisconsin, to me proposing in North Carolina. Every day of our life together Lauren has always put me first and has always made me feel more loved than the day prior. Her constant care and support pushes me through the hard days and make the good days even better. I look forward to continuing to grow our love as we become a married couple.

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