For my Dad’s birthday, I bought him a ticket to OSU’s second football game of the season (Rutgers) on September 8th 2018. After watching him get on stage at Octoberfest (yes in September) the night before, we got off to a late start the morning of the 8th but it was a 3:30 game so we had some time to spare.

The weather was rainy, so after brunch we headed down to campus to tailgate at Varsity Club to pre-game so he could get the full experience.

Earlier in the week, my friend Lindsey said she and her college friend Megan were going to the game and we should meet up beforehand. I told her we were going to Varsity Club and while they were getting ready to meet my Dad and I, Lindsey texted:

“Megan just asked if you were dongle!!”

Followed up with

“Omg single* 😂 wtf is dongle”

To which I replied

“Yup, very dongle”

When Lindsey and Megan got to Varsity Club they walked over and the first thing Megan said was “Who wants to take shots?!” And it was at the very moment I knew I liked Megan.

Then Megan and for some reason my Dad went off to buy shots. After the shots, we headed into the game and spent the first two quarters getting soaked in the rain. As halftime approached I got a text from an unknown number that said:

“Hey Sean its Lindsey my phone is at 11%, so Im texting you from Megans number”

And just like that I had my future wife’s number. My dad made me ask if we could go sit with them since they were under an overhang, and after sneaking into B-Box I was now sitting next to Megan at our first of many OSU football games.

I honestly don’t remember much of the second half game because I was so focused on getting to know Megan and hearing about her life. And for some reason, I can’t tell you why, I reached down and held her hand for the first time, and yes, my Dad was sitting on the left of me.

After a couple weeks of texting and Megan saying we could only be friends, we finally made it official on 10/11/2018, which started our years of long distance relationships, flights to see each other, video dates, and phone calls,.

Then in January 2020, it got real serious when Megan decided to buy a condo in Columbus. I moved in in June of that same year and we have been living there ever since.

Three years later, after dragging my feet for so long that Megan thought it would never happen, I proposed in front of the Rotunda of The Shoe since Ohio State and football played such a significant role in our relationship.

Ever since I was a little kid I dreamed of the perfect engagement. Nice clothes, outdoors, and a spot that was meaningful to my relationship. It already seemed like a daunting task, but to make it even more challenging, Megan has seen every Hallmark movie ever, more than once. Over the 4.5 years we’ve been together, we have watched A LOT of these movies together and she has made MANY comments. She’s commented on good speeches vs. bad speeches, the location of the proposal, but she comments most about the kneel. If the kneel was at a wrong angle, she gets mad at the movie and says that it’s a bad proposal and the woman should say “no”. Safe to say, I was feeling a lot of pressure for my proposal.

After picking out a ring, asking for her father’s blessing, and picking a location, all I needed was a date. Then, pure brilliance struck as we were attending The Foundation Spring Festival, an OSU Athletics Fundraiser, on 4/20/23. It was perfect - nice clothes, outdoors, and meaningful spot. We would have to get dressed up for the event and we’d be going to The Shoe (OSU’s football stadium, and the first place we held hands).

I told Megan I was so excited to go to the event because we were finally going to have some photos of us looking fancy in front of The Shoe. Then Megan pointed out that the event was taking place at The Schott (OSU’s basketball arena) and NOT at The Shoe. Well, that threw a wrench in my plan. Now I had to persuade Megan that we needed to stop at The Shoe first to get some photos.

It took some convincing, but I told Megan that it was really important to me to get some photos in front of The Shoe while we looked fancy since all of our other photos are with football jerseys on. I thought for sure she was going to catch on to my plan because Megan previously mentioned that she either wanted to get engaged at The Shoe or in her hometown of Bay Ridge, but as evidenced by her jaw on the floor in the picture she had no idea. Ultimately, Megan agreed that we would leave early and get some photos at The Shoe. I told her we would just ask someone who was walking by to take photos, but I had arranged with a co-worker to “bump into us” there so she could record the event.

The week leading up to the big day the weather was stormy and I was worried I wouldn’t get a chance to propose, which normally wouldn’t be a problem except that Megan was heading to Denver for two weeks, then we had a wedding the next weekend and went to Maine for a week and half after that. So if it didn’t happen on the 20th it’d be over a month before I had another chance to get us to The Shoe.

The week of I had practiced my kneel every time Megan was out of the house because I needed to get it just right. I had also written a poem so it was easy to remember exactly what I wanted to say when I asked, and because poems are awesome (yes, it even rhymed).

The day came and the weather was spectacular. The event started at 5:30pm, but we agreed to leave at 4:30pm, so we would have time to go to The Shoe and get some pictures. At 4:20pm I went to check on Megan and see if she would be ready at 4:30pm. She told me that should would not be ready on time because she had tied her hair in a literal knot. So I went downstairs to wait and texted my coworker to let her know we were running late.

Megan finally came down the stairs at 4:50pm and suggested that we just skip pictures (she needed to eat a snack) and do it another time so we weren’t late to the event. I did not like this idea at all. I told her that we had time, it would be fine, and I REALLY wanted this picture. So I had her grab a snack and then rushed her into the car and we left.

By the time we parked the car at 5:08pm, my coworker had been circling The Shoe waiting for 20 minutes waiting to “bump” into us. I was freaking out that she would have given up, but thankfully, she didn’t. The Shoe was more crowded than I anticipated — there was a group of girls there getting graduation photos and a bunch of students walking to their cars. So I had a bigger audience for the proposal than I had intended for.

As Megan was setting up the phone to take a time delay photo, my co-worker showed up, so we passed off the phone to her. She took a video and as she was taking the video said “okay I’ve gotten a couple.” This was my queue for the most badass thing I’ve ever said. “Great, can you take one more of me and my fiancé.”

Instead of “yay” or “oh my God” what I heard from Megan was “that’s not funny… are you serious? No…Sean….No….”. I knew she didn't actually mean "no", she was just overwhelmed with what was going on.

After I calmed her down a bit, I launched into my speech (poem) and got down on one knee (with the perfect 90 degree angle front leg), and asked Megan to be my wife, to which she replied “ABSOLUTELY, YES!!"

The group of girls getting their college graduation photos taken cheered, and cars driving by honked and we felt like a celebrity for all of 10 seconds before Megan rushed us off to call our parents that way we wouldn’t be late for the event. We happened to arrive at the same time as Ryan Day, so of course Megan yelled to him that we just got engaged and we ended up getting a photo with him. Megan spent the rest of the night telling every athlete that we just got engaged (the athletes knew before our siblings 😆). Safe to say, she was a little excited.

If you’ve actually read this far then please be sure to tell the bride or the groom so we can reward you at the wedding! We can’t wait to celebrate with you very soon. And as my future wife said the first time we met… “Who wants to take shots?”