Always & Forever

Megan and Ryan met in what some would call a Hallmark movie moment. About six months after Ryan purchased his home on Barth Ave., he glanced out his window and spotted Megan touring the house next door. In that instant, he knew he wanted to meet her, and fortunately, that moment arrived a few weeks later. However, it was triggered by a series of unfortunate events, including a collapsed sewer line, a torn-up deck, and a demolished fence at 1649 Barth. Megan was starting to regret buying her first home. It wasn't until their mothers coincidentally appeared in front of their houses that Ryan's mom inquired about the situation. Upon learning about the state of Megan's backyard, she volunteered Ryan to help fix her deck. A few days later, fulfilling his neighborly duties, he left a post-it on Megan’s front door with his number and a note that read, “Let me know if you want help fixing your deck". We now refer to that moment as “the note that started it all". Later that week, Ryan and some friends came over and reconstructed Megan's deck. In return, Megan thanked them by buying Mexican food and Coronas for everyone to enjoy. One might expect that to be the start of a great love story—boy meets girl, boy fixes girl's deck, girl falls in love with boy, and they live happily ever after. While that was indeed the eventual outcome, it took a bit longer than the typical Hallmark movie. Megan, true to her nature, didn't want to text the ‘boy next door'. She went through every scenario: “What if we date and it doesn’t work out? Then we're forced to see each other every day". “What if, what if, what if…”. However, all of Megan’s family and friends (and yes, she means all) persuaded her to text the neighbor because they saw the beautiful future of “what if". Thankfully, this was the one time she decided to listen. A few weeks later, Megan finally mustered the courage to text Ryan. The text: “Hey! It’s Megan, your neighbor! I’m out of town and have an Amazon package on my front porch. Can you please grab it for me!?” Not the text Ryan was probably hoping for, but thankfully, Ryan, being the kind soul that he was, agreed to grab the package. That text turned into an invite to a Fourth of July party at his house. During that party, everyone but Ryan and Megan could see the connection the two shared. That party led to an invitation to a Charleston, SC wedding the very next weekend (literally four days after hanging out for the first time). After some prompting from her mother, Megan took a chance and bought a plane ticket to fly across the country to be Ryan’s plus one to a wedding where she had only met the Bride and Groom the weekend prior. Well, that Charleston weekend turned into several ‘unofficial friend dates’ to the local Fountain Square restaurants & bars. And finally, those ‘unofficial friend dates’ turned into their first ‘official’ date. On the first date, Ryan showed Megan the best gluten-free pasta in Indianapolis, Mama Carollas. They talked for hours, shared two bottles of wine, and Megan serenaded him on the ride home with her best renditions of early 2000s country, which obviously sealed the deal for Ryan. Since that night, Megan and Ryan were inseparable, sharing many more nights with bottles of wine and admittedly too much singing of early 2000s country. Fast forward through the selling of a home, multiple job changes, the addition of a third furry friend, many more Mama Carolla’s dates, and ultimately culminating with ‘The Neighbor’ getting down on one knee asking for forever.