Picture it, Omaha, November 6, 2021.

Two lonely souls separated by a few miles - meet by chance online one night while one is getting ready to go to sleep, and the other was just waking up to go to work.

A sweet message comes through, unexpectedly, and the message reads "I like your pictures, but there's no way you're real". A lot of flirting, and small talk - Shae reluctantly agreed to go to IHOP with Travis- mostly because it's not that hard to convince Shae to do much. The promise of food and coffee goes a long way most days.

About a week passed, and they would meet one another again, this time not planned. Shae needed to take their car into the dealership for an oil change, and Travis was heading home from work. Travis was planning something, and Shae was being coy. Travis told Shae that he would come and kidnap them from the dealership, and that he was already on his way to get them.

When Travis arrived, he said he couldn't see Shae and was wondering where they'd sat themselves (afraid that they were hiding from him). Shae didn't believe that Travis had actually done what he threatened to do, and said "Pics or it didn't happen". Minutes passed and all-of-a-sudden, Travis sends a picture of himself....at the dealership....but it was the wrong one (by about 3 blocks).

Travis smoothly came to the right one, walked in, sat right next to Shae and proceeded to ask "Have they even come out for 'Show and Tell' - show you parts of your car and tell you what's wrong with your car - and try to upsell you on the stuff that you don't need?" When Shae said "No", Travis mustering all of his courage - because let's face it, Shae is terrifying when they're annoyed - "Your coffee's empty, the car's not even in the air yet, I bet. How about this, I take you to get more coffee and we can do whatever until your car is done".

Well, as we've established before, the promise of coffee or food sways Shae way too easily for their own good, so Shae agreed. They walked into the service dept. and spoke with one of the techs and said they'd return when the car was done. Travis and Shae went to Dunkin' Donuts and because Travis was driving so much further than expected, Shae texted their roommates at the time Roan and Issac - "If I go missing, I am with that Travis guy (insert picture) and he says we're going on a walk somewhere while we wait for my car to finish up".

Travis took the back roads to Standing Bear Lake, and no more promises of coffee but convinced Shae to walk around the lake with him - it was cold by the way - where they talked, laughed, and got to know one another. Travis tried to be slick a few times and say that his hands or that Shae's hands were cold and they should hold hands to keep warm. Once they had finished their walk, they went back to the dealership, and each went home - and Travis passed out because of his work schedule.

The next time these two would meet, would be Thanksgiving weekend - Travis had gone to his childhood home to see his family, and Shae had been asked to perform for a Christmas show in Sioux Falls. They met up there, and spent some time before the show - when Shae began to get ready and realized that they had not packed certain makeup, Travis said five words and the fear of the gods was struck into him. Shae was supposed to be painted green to be the Grinch - but had to improvise, and without asking for it, Travis said "Someone looks green with envy", which began the looks from Shae meaning you're in so much trouble. It was this trip, because of some unsolicited messages from strangers, that began Travis and Shae saying "I like you, and you like me - wanna be official?"

Fast forward to Christmas - Travis being the sentimental one in the relationship took it upon himself to gift Shae a romantic coupon book that Travis had made himself, as well as several personal care items. Shae not being romantic/sentimental and also being broke, didn't get anything for Travis - except their presence. Christmas time was also when Travis met Shae's family the first time, he was so quiet and well mannered that Shae's Nana said "What's wrong with him? Doesn't he speak?" The following family cards day, Nana changed her tone because Travis realized that they're all scary but they poke fun like all families do. After the fourth or fifth time Travis spoke, Nana then said "Doesn't he ever shut up!"

Travis and Shae were invited to be part of Shae's mom, Kate's wedding to Dave on 12/30/2021 at the Durham, and much to Travis' surprise, Kate told him he had to be photographed with the family as well.

Travis and Shae took their relationship to new elevations in February when for Shae's birthday they went to Colorado Springs for a vacation (a full seven days, sharing a single bed hotel room, and about 40 hours in a car together), both survived only to come home and immediately Shae called Travis- not once but three times - Travis knew something was wrong because Shae doesn't like being on the phone - because there was a massive sewage backup into Shae's townhouse. Arrangements had to be made fast - Shae knew where they could go, but then there was also the topic of Issac and Roan, and their cats because the environment was a massive safety issue. Travis agreed to what he thought was a temporary FEMA shelter situation with Shae - which then turned into a permanent living situation.

After a month and some change, Travis, Shae, Issac, Roan, and the three cats all moved into a three bedroom house.

Shae and Travis went to Newman Grove for Easter, where Shae got to meet Travis' parents for the first time, got the grand tour of Boomin' Newman, Travis returned his parents truck, and Shae got to see the inside of the M & M Farm Store where Travis bought some small items to help fix some things in the house.

After living together since February 2022 - on their one year anniversary, Shae and Travis got engaged. It was a very small and intimate happening, where Shae was making breakfast, Travis had come upstairs and then randomly went back down and had changed his clothes. When Shae went to pull Travis in for kiss and hug for their anniversary, Shae noticed something in Travis' pocket - and the only words they could form were "Travis what the hell is this? What the hell is in your pocket?" Travis tried to be all cool, but gladly he couldn't. He got on one knee, pulled the beautiful shiny box from his hoodie pocket, messed up on Shae's name a few times (but that's fair since Shae has been called every name in the book their whole life), and placed a beautifully customized ring on Shae's hand. They cried, they laughed, they started telling all of the family - then it was time for the world to hear about it - so they went to Facebook of course!

Here we are in May 2023 planning our wedding, so far ahead of schedule that we don't really know what's next until we open the Knot and see the timeline.

Photos