With Love & Gratitude - Cheers!

I will never forget the first time I met Lindsey. A mutual friend of ours had been trying to set us up for years but because Lindsey was living in Dallas and I was living in WI neither one of us took the suggestion seriously. Not to be deterred, our friend invited us both to an event at Lambeau Field under false pretenses so that we could finally meet. And I am so glad they did! Of course I thought Lindsey was beautiful (anyone with eyes can see that!) but what had me thinking about her nonstop in the weeks to come was so much more. As we began to talk it was immediately clear how smart Lindsey is, how insightful, and how engaging. She was witty, she was interesting, and she was kind. I was hooked! Over the coming months we began to talk for hours at a time on the phone. Then we started flying back and forth to spend long weekends together. Followed by a long vacation to Italy (to see how we handled navigating Italian roadways together). I suppose it did take a lot of work to make our long-distance relationship work, but I was so nuts about her it never felt like it! Things may have been effortless from the beginning. However, we still took it slow. In fact, I didn’t even work up the courage to use the “L” word until we had been dating for several years. When I did, I tried to make up for the delay by really pulling out all the stops. I put together a photo book of our trip to Italy and wrote a verse of a poem on each page. Then, on the last page the poem ended with me telling her that I loved her. I pulled this photobook out and read it to Lindsey after we had hiked several miles to a waterfall in the rainforest of Oregon. The whole thing was just as cheesy and over the top as you are imagining! Over the next few years we made several major “life moves.” Buying a home together, moving in together, getting a dog together (Bella Louise!). Those steps probably should have felt monumental and nerve racking… but they never did. I was so crazy about Lindsey, and so sure about our future, that each step just felt natural and maybe a little overdue! After the first 4-hour conversation I had with Lindsey about equity valuation models I was ready to propose. But I knew I needed to play it cool if I didn’t want to scare her off. So… 5.5 years, a house, and a dog later I hoped she had finally caught up to me on this front. Not to be outdone by my “I love you” photobook/poem, I started planning. I designed a one-of-a-kind engagement ring, I convinced her that we should take a trip to Iceland, I picked the spot, and I booked a photographer. But I also knew that while a well-planned and thought-out proposal would be great nothing beats those organic “pinch me I’m dreaming” moments. So, I told myself that if the moment struck I wouldn’t wait for the photographer and the place I had spent month researching. I would just seize the opportunity About halfway through our trip the stars aligned! We had hiked to the top of a bluff overlooking a fjord. From where we stood we could see and hear half a dozen waterfalls feeding into the ocean below, the sea was sparkling as the morning Sun was rising, and there was no one but free range sheep for miles around. I turned to look at Lindsey as she took a deep breath of the crisp air and said that she couldn’t imagine a more perfect moment. She was right. So I dropped down to one knee and pulled out the ring. I think I said a cheeseball line about “maybe I can make it just a little more perfect” but honestly, it’s all kind of a blur. It took Lindsey about a full minute to compose herself before she responded (imaging me kneeing this whole time starting to worry if her happy cries were something else). Finally, she said “Yes! A million times yes!” To date, that is the happiest moment of my life. For the next three hours we just hiked around that fjord talking, laughing, and dreaming about our future together. I can’t wait call this incredible woman my wife on September 4th!

“Kind words are like honey – sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.” – Proverbs 16:24 I chose the above passage to describe my time with Jon for a reason. If you know Jon, you probably know he’s a beekeeper and you also know he is one of the kindest people you will have the opportunity to encounter. I have had my life’s greatest honor in getting to know, to admire, to learn from, to believe in, to trust, to entrust and most importantly to love Jon these past almost seven years. I believe this sets the tone for why I love and adore him so completely. Jon always speaks kind words to me, and it has fulfilled my soul to a degree I did not know possible and encouraged in my mind, body, and spirit. I can fell his love so completely; it’s made my capacity to love even greater. Thank you, my love. I love you and I will forever be your Honeybee. I know the details below will not do what my heart truly feels justice, but I hope it will give you a look into our first chapter together and how excited we are for the next chapters yet to come. Certainly, they will be filled with as much love, gratitude, success, laughs, fun and adventures as the first! Jon and I connected at Lambeau Field, where we were both invited to speak at a business conference. We were set-up by a mutual friend who had wanted us to get together for years, but since Jon was living in Oshkosh and I was living in Dallas, I did not see logistically why we would. However, our friend was insistent we needed to meet and took this opportunity to make sure it happened. Well, what I thought was going to be a quick bout of niceties, turned into an over hour conversation. We talked about several things, but this is where I learned of Jon’s first true love, Warren Buffett. At the Berkshire annual meetings, Jon can answer the questions in exactly the same way Warren does. It’s amazing and, I feel like I have also dated Warren Buffet. lol. This encounter made a huge impression on me, and I wanted to see Jon again. He was handsome, incredibly intelligent and spoke kindly. Post our first meeting, we kept in touch and would talk for hours on the phone. While I enjoy connecting with people on the phone, having a conversation over 20 minutes is a slow form of torture, so I was pleasantly surprised when Jon and I would converse for over four hours at a time, and it left like 20 minutes. It was during these long conversations that I knew Jon was special and we shared so much in common. We did not see one another again until the next year. I was home in WI and Jon suggested we grab dinner. I countered with lunch instead. We agreed to lunch at SAP in Appleton. Well, Jon must have known this was going to be a make-or-break lunch, so he rolled up in a Maserati and looked so gosh darn handsome and charming. Again, the anticipated quick lunch turned into five hours of wonderful conversation and me asking him to join my mom and I for a hike in the kettles with the boys (Hank & Rufus) that same weekend! My family is everything to me and having a partner who understands family importance and prevalence is paramount. So, we threw Jon right into the mix, and I have to say, he’s been the best addition to our sweet batter. He and Jamela hit it off immediately! He jokes that our second date was with my mom… and he does have a point. It was! Jon the charming and kind person he is, bonded with Jamela immediately. She likes him to much she invited him over for dinner with Gregg and Jonny. After that hike in the kettles and dinner, I knew he was someone unique.

I'll always cherish when Jon took me to see the bee’s for the first time. I love being outside and nature is important to my daily life, however I knew little about these little pollinators who are vital to our existence. I was excited to see what this whole bee keeping thing was about! It was amazing. Jon had everything perfectly planned. He also looked super cute in his bee keeping gear and was so knowledgeable on bee conservation. I was in awe. As it turns out, I’m totally enamored with bee’s. Thanks to our dear friends the Henschel’s, we have a hive close to our home. It’s been a passion I have learned and adopted from Jon. We knew our relationship was solid, but we cemented it more when I took a new role with adidas in Portland. Again, Jon was wonderful in always making us feel connected and close. One visit Jon made we went on a long weekend trip to the San Juan Islands with some of my dearest friends in Portland. We had an incredible time hiking, cooking meals and dancing the night away. We also took a monumental trip to Italy for Jon’s 30th birthday. This was the longest we had ever spent together at one time (11 days). Every moment of the trip was spectacular, and we were two kids running around Tuscany. However, in all this time Jon and I were talking, taking trips to see one another sending each other notes, we had yet to say, “I love you”. That all changed when Jon came to visit for my birthday. We went for our usual hiking adventure. It was on this hike that Jon verbalized he loved me for the first time. I said the same. From there on out it was nothing but “I love you” 100x a day. Jon decided to take a job with a new firm, Mersberger financial in Kohler, WI. This was music to my ears (and to Jamela’s) as it meant I would be coming home at some point. We decided the best way forward given the market prices was to purchase a home together. To our luck, we found the most charming and unique home. I was still living in Portland, but knowing I had a home with Jon in my future in WI was the most grounding feeling. It was just a few short months later that the world shut down due to the pandemic, but I believe my life really started. I was able to come back to WI and live full time with Jon in our little home. Everything fell into place to wonderfully and Jon and I existed as though we had been living together for years. Jon also brought our sweet Bella Louise into our life for my birthday. She is a little bit of love personified. I love that little doggo, but I love more how much Jon loves Bella. It's due to our pandemic years living together, that we knew we were each other’s forever’s. We have grown so interconnected. When the world started to open up again, we decided to take a trip to Iceland. The ever investor, Jon noted the prices of flying to Iceland were cheaper than almost anywhere else. We planned our trip and set off for the island of fire and ice. The moment we touched down was one magical hike after another. The topography is a splendor, and the people are lovely. It was a magnificent trip on its own, but completely amplified by the fact Jon proposed to me in a fjord, surrounded by waterfalls, rainbows and sheep (lol). I was floating I was so excited. I could not have scripted a more perfect location. Jon also designed and sourced ALL the gems for the ring. The ring is a culmination of love and sincere thought that Jon put into it. The sapphire represents my blue eyes. So romantic! This is Jon. He must know all the angles and learn about a topic completely. He takes so much joy in learning and reading. I am always amazed at how much knowledge he has and his brilliance at putting it to use in real life applications. Clearly, I said YES and now that brings us to our wedding. I think we are both excited to get married to one another, but I think we are equally excited to have all the people we love in one room to share our sincere gratitude with you as you have all been on this journey with us. xoxo!