Back in October of 2018 our good friends Kerri and Brad had some people over before going out to the bars that night. Nothing out of the ordinary. My good friend Ansley was in town from Atlanta, and I was excited to show her around Cleveland. To my knowledge it was just going to be a few people hanging out, most of whom I had met before, and Brad's good friend "Buurma" from college. That night we played games at the apartment and casually flirted with eachother until we realized we both drive the same VW Tiquan, and then as most twenty-something-year-olds do in downtown Cleveland, we headed to Dive Bar. At Dive Bar, as the story goes, Scott made his interest clear to Kerri, who made it her mission to set us up. From there, he got my number, and we had a first date planned before the end of the evening.

This entire story should be prefaced by saying that I (Leah) had zero faith in Scott to be able to fully surprise me, but he managed to pull it off. We went ring shopping back in February, to our trusty family jeweler. From there is was basically just a waiting game on my end as Scott told me I wasn't allowed to ask any questions about it any more. In my mind I figured anywhere from mid-May to early July I would get asked the "big question", however then Covid-19 hit and we were thrown a curve-ball. The jeweler called Scott right around when we were expecting the ring to be completed and let him know that where the ring was getting cast was in New York, which was entirely shut down due to Covid-19, so getting the ring when Scott was expecting wasn't possible. He offered Scott a "loaner" ring to propose with, however Scott ultimately decided he couldn't make that decision on his own and asked me if I would rather wait for the ring we picked out together, or get engaged when we originally planned. I opted to wait for my ring with no estimated deadline in sight. Little did I know after this ordeal happened, the jeweler was able to send a few items to get cast, including my ring. The night Scott proposed we were eating dinner at my parents house and we went out to the gazebo to finalize paint colors for our new home. While we were out there, Scott popped the question, leading the conversation with the infamous line "I lied to you...". Meanwhile, my Dad had set up a camera to record everything, so we can cherish that memory forever.