How We Met

Well, Tanner and I’s story really began when we were 6 and 8 and we played on the same t-ball team. I always knew who Tanner was because our parents were friends and he lived down the road from me but he was 2 years younger than me in school so we didn’t really know each other that well. Then, in 2012, Tanner was finally a Freshman and we were in high school together plus we had an 8th-period band together. I was a junior and he was a freshman but I developed a little crush on Tanner. I started flirting with him but he was a bit naive and didn’t think a junior would like him so he blew it off. It took several of his friends to convince him that I liked him and I was flirting with him for him to finally believe it. I had finally gotten his number from one of his friends and with my En-v2 I texted him “loser;)” and from there, it’s history. I had my license and he didn’t, he played basketball and I cheered so I started driving him home after basketball games and then we started hanging out after basketball games and then on February 12th, 2012, he asked me to be his girlfriend. We dated throughout the rest of high school, I graduated and went off to Bowling Green State University which was an hour away from him but we made that work. Then, he graduated and went and played baseball at Defiance college which was 45 min from BGSU. Then, I graduated undergrad and got into graduate School for my Doctorate in Physical Therapy in Fort Wayne, Indiana which was also 45 minutes from Defiance. Then, he graduated from Defiance and he got accepted into graduate school for his Master’s in Physician Assistant in Fort Wayne, Indiana but it just so happened that when he started in the fall in Fort Wayne, I started my clinical year and my clinical’s were all back at home in Lima, Ohio which is 1.5 hours away. So, for 6.5 of the 8 years we have been together, we have lived in separate cities but we make it work by weekend visits and holiday breaks and FaceTime chats.

How He Proposed

Tanner has twin sisters and they told me that they wanted to get pictures for their mom for Mother’s Day/her birthday. So, his sister booked a photographer and organized everything and had told us we were doing pictures at 5:30 on that Saturday. Tanner and I got ready for pictures and on our way to the park, his sister texts me and said that his other sister messed up her make-up and was having a breakdown, they were going to be late. We got there and told the photographer what was going on and she said that it was fine and we could wait about 10 minutes. Little did I know, she was in on it too. 10 minutes pass and Tanners sisters aren’t there yet. The photographer is telling us that we are losing the light and that we really need to get started or else we are going to have to reschedule. At that point, I was thinking that his sisters should be showing up very soon so we decided we would get a few pictures of just Tanner and I and then as soon as his sisters arrived, they could jump in the pictures and we would get them done before losing too much light. Well… it turns out everyone was lying to me and it was a set up for the most perfect proposal. He had gone to the park earlier that day and hung lights around the pergola. I was so shocked and was caught so off guard. Tanner looked at me and told me how much he loved me and how the last 8 years have been amazing and as much as he loves our past he can’t wait for our future and then he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. To make it even better, during the pictures, it had just started to snow a very light, and pretty snow. My dad passed away 3 years prior to the proposal and he loved Tanner and would have absolutely given him his blessing. I like to think that the little added snowfall was a sign from my dad, showering us with his love from above.

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