It all started with a simple swipe on Tinder, a popular dating website, to us flirting over social media. Welcome to the 21st century, right? Then I proceeded to ask her out to a dinner date at a nice winery. We agreed to me picking her up at her residence. When I pulled up to the property, I proceeded to text her and tell her that I was outside, and no response. I waited and waited. Then the front door opened and a 300-lb white man walks out, and then and there I thought. "Man, I have just been catfished." This man proceeds to walk out to me and I jump out of my vehicle to greet him. He looks at me up and down and says, "Ya know, it's tradition to meet the parents before you take their daughter out," and shocked that this man doesn't look ANYTHING like Kiana. What do you mean you call her your daughter? Later I found out that it was her friend's father. He then took him into his house and I'm wandering around looking for this woman. And after a few uncomfortable conversations about what sports team I like with this man, Kiana finally enters the room. Relieved, she asked me, "are you ready to go?" I was like "Ooooh yeah." We then drove to the Bookwalter Winery which I thought I made reservations for. The hostess ran through the reservations and was sure I made a reservation to Tagaris Winery next door by accident. We understood and made our way to the restaurant. We were sat down and the food wasn't that great and had to send back a dish after only one bite. The restaurant was unnecessarily loud and quite frankly for us, neither of our voices carry. We're both soft-spoken. All-in-all, the date ended tragically, and I rescued the moment by inviting her to something simple like going to the dog park and getting coffee. To take away from the tense environment like a fancy winery. We may have not come from the best first experience with each other but a good friend of mine once said, "Sometimes the best endings come from the worst beginnings."

Okay so, after a while of dating this woman, I was convinced that I am going to marry this woman. She cares for me like no one ever else has between the meal prepping for my out-of-town work, buying me clothes, and overall just looking after my needs. I purchased the ring in March. I kept it in a shoebox in my closet so she wouldn't find it. The anticipation killed me but I persevered on. I wanted to execute the perfect proposal. I asked her out to dinner at LU LU Craft Bar Kitchen. During dinner, I texted her best friend to lay out candles and rose pedals along the dock of the marina. She laid everything out and we proceeded to walk out and the high intensity wind put out all of the candles and blew off the pedals. In dismay, I was like, through thick and thin, I would stick with her. I then asked her to walk out to the dock with me and I dropped the knee. She accepted the proposal and the rest is history.