Brenden had been going back and forth from college to home, one time he was home I decided to build up the courage to talk to him, like REALLY talk to him. We talked about college and how I had thought of becoming a teacher. I ended up having to leave mid conversation but didn't have the guts to ask him for his phone number, so the next day I asked his mom to give him my phone number. Funny huh? We got to talking then it became a innocent game of truth or dare, I got the courage and asked him on a truth if he had ever had a crush on me. His response was, "Yes and I still do." Then came the uno reverse card and it was flipped back on me, my response? "I always have." Of course after my little dance around the room I asked him what this meant for us. "Do you want to be my girlfriend?" I know, I know, silly to ask over the phone but dang was I all in.

Once upon a time… Naaah, too generic. Twas the night before…. Hmm, not fitting. In a land, far, far aw… NO! Ew! We never even left Minnesota! *Someone in the crowd* “Get on with it already!” Alri- ALRIGHT! Geez… Here we go… Over the course of our relationship, we have had many ups and downs, just as most relationships (platonic or not) but the ups were always surging! Every time something good happened in our lives, I stared into those big ol’ beautiful Hazel eyes of hers, I become even more entranced than the last time! (I know, I know… “It’s a trap!” - Admiral Ackbar) So, One day in June, I finally decided to do things the old fashioned way and invited her father out for a nice lunch, seeing as we don’t hang out altogether too much, he smelled something fishy in the air… (Metaphor… there was no fish or ‘Tuna’ out to dry that day) So, he met me at Crazy Mary’s in Finlayson, (Highly recommend, btw) and we sat down to eat. At first, we were just BSing about some usual stuff, talking about games, and even watching some funny reels on FB. Unfortunately for meeee….. He noticed that I was fidgety and acting nervous, so he finally asked: Kelly- “So, what you bring me out here for kid?” Me- “What do you mean? I J-Just wanted to have lunch with my future Father-in-law!” K- “Oh yeah? Future Father-in-Law, huh? You gotta get your shit together and ask me first before you give my daughter a ring, dummy.” And then laughs. M- Even more nervous now, “W-Well… That’s kinda the reason I called you out here…” and then I take a deep breath and look him in the eyes (as much as possible), “Kelly? Will you please Allow me to marry your daughter?” K- smiles and laughs, “So THAT'S why you wanted me to be brought out here! So I would be away from all my guns!” And then from there, you would expect him to give me the outright pep talk about marrying his daughter and what that means to him (Which he did… eventually) But NO! He sits there, practically intimidating me to continue sitting there with him, keeping me hostage for what seemed like hours on end, before I finally manage to get us both off of our asses, out of the establishment, and to our vehicles. He keeps me pinned outside there for a little while longer before he finally says his last little tidbits, what he expects out of me and our relationship, and finally gives his blessing! (TOTALLY was predicting that! 100% sure that I would not fail! *laughs and wipes a bead of sweat off of my forehead with a shaky hand*) Anywho, fast forward a few months now, Jaz and I looked over some rings that she really likes (covert operation: success!), picked out her favorites, got them, and then eventually planned with some of my family on how to proceed with the next steps. (New operation, ‘Lady Gaga’ [put a ring on it] begin!) We went to my grandmother’s house after a Tran Siberian Orchestra concert and spent the night there on the 23rd of December so that way both of us could be there on the 24th when we would celebrate my family’s Christmas! So I wake up, talk with my Uncle Rick who was my main co-conspirator and hid the ring box on top of the fridge, behind a singular cereal box, and it was perfect! (Jaz is short, so anywhere high up would have worked, theoretically) We waited out the day, with my nerves jumbling up more and more as the destined time approached, and at the end of us exchanging gifts, I said “Please hold on! I have one more gift to give to a very special person in my life, please give me a sec.” And I instructed Jaz to look the other way and close her eyes as I went to go grab the ring. And after that, I came back into the room, knelt down in front of her in the eyes of my family, said some of my vows to her, and asked her to become my wife… And what would you know, she said YES! WOOHOO!