I had been living in a small, one bedroom apartment in Fort Wayne, IN for 10 years and living a pretty routine lifestyle. I had been pretty career driven for a majority of that time but had reached a point where I wanted to find someone to share all of my adventures with…so I decided to put my love for playing my guitar, watching Blues hockey & Colts football, and my love for mashed potatoes on Hinge and Bumble.

It was the beginning of February 2023 when I came across Robyn's profile on Hinge. The picture with her on a kayak wearing a shark tooth necklace made me swipe right since kayaking took me back to some great childhood memories. Crazy enough a few hours later I come across Robyn again on Bumble. I swiped right again, but this time for a grasshopper fear that led me to ask if she was scared of a the one in the movie "A Bug's Life". Then out of the blue I get a popup message that we matched on both apps. After a few messages we had our first date set for the comedy club just up the road from my apartment (We had our 1st date Feb 9th).

I wasn't sure what to think afterward based on how completely opposite that Robyn and I were, but I knew I liked her. Think of the movie Elemental…Robyn is like the character Ember and I'm very much like Wade. My dad encouraged me to go on another date after sharing how he taught my mom to polka dance when they started dating. They've now been married 40+ years. We could create common interests to share.

I planned our 2nd date on Valentine's Day and then a 3rd date watching Antman in the theaters. I was getting optimistic with how our dates went that I invited her over to watch the Blues game on TV and then see a comedy show the following night. I decided to make our relationship official before walking her back out to her car. She initially said I didn't have to walk her to the car, but my reply was, "That's not the kind of boyfriend I am." I knew it was something real because for the next two weeks while I was away at training for work we would talk on the phone for 2-3 hours each night and not repeat a single thing. It was as easy as breathing.

It was from there I decided to show Robyn my "constantly on the move" side. There wasn't a weekend for the longest time that we weren't going somewhere for dates or meeting family members. Some of my favorite trips include a trip to The Spaghetti Factory (where Robyn met my parents), Robyn's first Blues game, a chocolate factory tour at Debrand's (where I met her parents), a trip for pizza along Lake Michigan (where I met her brother and sister-in-law), many dates at the comedy club or movie theater, a Fort Wayne zoo trip (where I will never live down calling a peacock an ostrich as they were walking by us on the path), a lantern festival at the Grand Rapids zoo, a trip to Nashville for CMA fest, a 4th of July trip to St. Louis, a Lindsey Sterling concert and a Jeff Dunham show at the Ohio State Fair, and several kayaking trips.

In late Fall, I moved in with Robyn. Living together was not always smooth due to a lot of career uncertainty and anxiety from that, but I was committed to supporting whatever opportunity knocked. As fate would have it, Nashville was the opportunity that literally spoke the loudest to us and we moved in February 2024.

I also started to get some not-so-subtle hints about what to propose with and where not to propose at from Robyn. It ranged from getting a ring pop like in the movie Deadpool to browsing actual engagement rings. Unbeknownst to Robyn, I took notes and planned for both. I also wanted to incorporate her love for Pokémon so I got a Pokeball replica and planned to stick the ring inside. Since we are both numbers nerds I waited to propose on Pi day. I found out the day before that the Pokeball I purchased didn't actually open (it just lit up), so I improvised and wrote a letter and said I wanted to give her something round and shiny later. Around 4:44 P.M. I popped the question in our living room to an utterly shocked Robyn. After she said "Are you sure?", and me saying yes back, she said yes.

Through it all, the best adventures have been the ones we've created with each other, and I know we're excited to kick off the next phase of our life together. Due to our nerdiness with numbers landing our special day during the week, we're excited to be able to share this day virtually with those who have been part of our journey!

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