In my bio, I only had about 200 characters to fully explain who I am, and what I enjoy. Mine read something along the lines of, "I love Jesus, my dog, family, friends, and sunsets. Not a partier, a drinker, or a morning person." One day, I got a notification that someone had "Super Liked" my profile. When I opened the notification, I was met with a picture of this *rather handsome* guy at Mod Pizza, picking up his first slice of pizza, and grinning from ear to ear as he planned his attack on how he'll devour it. His bio read, "God, Family, & Friends. Car nut in the summer, Blues hockey in the winter. Avid Costco card and Amazon Prime user. Probably say 'ope' more than your average Midwesterner." I swiped through his other pictures and saw him and some friends at a Cardinals game, and another at a Blues game. I thought, "Ok, well, he's very attractive! He put God first in his profile, so I pray he's a true follower of Christ. He has a sense of humor, and he enjoys attending baseball and hockey games, me too!" Honestly, I don't remember if I started the conversation first or if he did, but at one point he said, "I like that you're not a partier or a drinker, because neither am I. We can just go fishing instead." As many of you know and see on social media, that's just about all we do these days, but I wouldn't want to spend an extensive amount of hours on a boat with anybody else.

All week, he was saying he had a surprise lined up for Sunday, to celebrate my birthday. So Sunday rolls around (2 days before my birthday), we go to church, we run some errands, and we carry on with our day. It was a normal Sunday afternoon. He told me we had dinner plans at 5, and it was a fancy dinner, so I had to dress nice. He also knows I love scavenger hunts, and was giving me clues on our way to dinner. My first clue was where dinner was located. He said, “The first part is a name, and the second part is something you cut down.” The first thing that came to mind was Kirkwood. Not quite. It was Brentwood, and we were going to Bonefish Grill. It had been spotty showers all day, off and on. While we were sitting at our table, he kept asking me every 5 mins, “What does the radar look like now?” He’s never been so obsessed with the radar before. After dinner, he gave me my next clue. I don’t remember what the clue was that he gave me, but the answer was Forest Park. We drove through Forest Park and parked on the side of a street. He said, “There’s a bridge up here that has a plaque on it with the date it was built and dedicated to. Your next clue is on that plaque. And you have to walk in front of me because your birthday gift is behind me.” I thought, “Oh! Ok! Sounds good!” Totally oblivious to the idea that he could possibly propose soon. We found the bridge and I’m looking so hard for this plaque. He told me to keep facing forward because he has a question for me. Then he told me to turn around and said, “Do you want to get married?” And I said, “WHAT?! YES!!!” Then I look around, and out pops my mom, my dad, his sister, her boyfriend, and our photographer friend, who was capturing the moment. To say I was surprised is an understatement. We never went ring shopping, so I didn’t pick out my ring. I sent him pictures of what I liked, and he went off of those. He did so good!