It all started back in the fall of 2009, when we first crossed paths: to be referred to as "Part One" in the story of Joe & Sam. When Joe surpassed the height of 5'8" (*cough*cough* his senior year of high school), he started to catch Sam's eye in the hallways of Buckeye High. Joe was... still growing through the majority of high school, and therefore, never crossed into Sam's line of sight until that time. After a power move from Sam, laying a one liner on one of Joe's facebook profile pictures, we connected and eventually started dating. After of few months of Joe being a perfect gentlemen, Sam decided to stop dating Joe (for no apparent reason) and we went our separate ways.

Joe left to pursue his business degree at Bowling Green State University, and a year later Sam headed to Ohio State University for hers.

Fast forward to the summer of 2012, or "Part Two" of our story. Sam& Joe were home from school for the summer and decided to reconnect over sushi. This is what we now consider our first date. It took three dates, and a not-so-subtle nudge from Sam's bestie (and Matron of Honor) Amelia, for Joe to realize that Sam was actually interested in dating him. One summer evening, near the end of July, we started dating again. And well, you know the rest...

Sam and her dad spend the weekend of the NCAA wrestling championships together every year - and this year, the championship happened to be hosted in Cleveland. Even though Joe did not have tickets to the events, he decided he'd tag along to the trip to see his dad and friends at home. About 3 weeks before the trip, Sam's dad texts her asking if he could give her ticket to one of his friends for the Friday morning matches. Without hesitation (or suspicion), she gave up her ticket for that morning and made plans with her friend Amelia to get her nails done. Amelia and Sam get their nails done together every single time she's back in town, so this was nothing out of the ordinary (Sam ironically scheduled this herself). Joe convinces Sam to spend that afternoon at his Dad's house prior to, what Sam thought she'd be, heading back to Cleveland to meet her dad for the evening wrestling session.

We got in the car to head to downtown Cleveland for the late matches, and Joe rattles off this story about how his Dad dedicated a bench to his Oma (shout out to that lovely lady) at the local park, and asked to stop by and see it on our way. Sam thought that was such a cool thing to do, and agreed to go to the park. Hindsight is 20/20 here, she totally should've been getting suspicious.

We got out of the car, and Sam is avidly searching for a bench. No joke, this park did not have a single bench in sight. Joe points out a dock about 15 feet away, overlooking the park lake, and Sam's mind starts racing.

- Our second and most memorable date back in 2012 ended with a night of star gazing on a dock.... overlooking a lake.... in a park exactly like this.... -

We head down to the dock, Joe says "look out at the lake, let me take a picture of you." By the time Sam looks back at Joe he is already down on one knee giving the most thoughtful and romantic speech before ending with, "Will you marry me?".

As if that wasn't enough, Joe had dinner planned for us at the restaurant that we had our first date AND a surprise party back at the Mueller household with all of our family and friends from near and far.

We ended the night with many tears of happiness, lots of laughter, and plenty to drink.