We're getting married!

We met working the same summer job on the Goodtime III cruise ship in Cleveland. I obviously stood out because of my height, my clumsy moving between tables to clean up, and my great singing to the music that played throughout the cruise. Bri was always smiley and bubbly in the galley as a ray of sunshine in the long work days. We would walk back to our cars together after work and talk and hangout while our coworkers would walk back more slowly because they wanted us to get together. Eventually one of us had the courage to say that they liked the other (I won't say who) and so it all started!

Our first date started right next door to the Goodtime III paddle boating in the harbor. I had known Bri had always wanted to go paddle boating and surprised her with that idea on one of our few days off. We also got dinner at Barroco in Lakewood and wrote our names and the date on the wall of the restaurant (we're not vandals, everyone does it there). We also went to the Lakewood Park Solstice Steps and got ice cream from Mitchell's in Ohio City.

We went back to Cleveland to celebrate our five-year anniversary. I knew I wanted to propose then and suggested that we do a fancy dinner cruise on the Goodtime III. Unfortunately, the cruise we had picked was canceled due to other events downtown, so we had to go earlier in the day for the lunch. Bri thought I was planning on proposing on the boat, but I had other thoughts. The night before we went and saw Lawrence in concert at the Rock Hall which is right next to the Goodtime. We parked in the same parking lot from when we worked at the Goodtime for the concert. I hid the ring in the car's center console while we were at the concert. When we got back, we walked the pier a bit like we used to and then got back in the car. That's when I "let slip" that I had wanted to propose the next night originally and while she was teasing me for spoiling the surprise, I pulled out the ring for the real surprise proposal.