Two Shall Become One.

A story of how a girl from Central Illinois and a boy from North Central South Dakota met and fell in love in Southeastern Wisconsin.

We have known each other for about three years, but didn't start dating until Halloween of 2007. We work for the same company, completely different buildings though (someone smartly decided engineers and graphic designers should stay separate in the professional world), and met at an after-hours work party.

Mid-October 2007 I moved into a new apartment and started receiving bank statements and credit card bills from the prior tenant. I recognized the name as Steve's co-worker. I sent Steve a text message and asked if he wouldn't mind passing the mail along. He said not a problem, and asked me out for a drink so I could hand him the mail. We were pretty inseparable after that.

The Proposal.

The proposal happened a year and a week from when we started dating.

Steve came over for dinner on the evening of November 8, 2008. Later that night we were cuddled on the couch when all of a sudden he decided to play with Maddy (the puggle). He got me to come down on the floor to play as well. He called me over by him to scratch her belly because it makes her leg twitch. It's hilarious!

All of a sudden he grabbed my hands and I noticed that he was on one knee (I was on my knees too). Before I had a chance to put it all together he looked at me and said, "I have a question for you . . . Will you marry me?" In his right hand he was holding my ring. Time paused for a minute, but I somehow managed to say yes.

That night we just talked and kept the news between us.

Later, it came out that that daym, Steve had driven the two and a half hours to my parents' house to ask for their permission. He wouldn't tell them when he was going to ask me though. It meant a lot to my dad. Being that I graduated from college five years ago and live on my own, he didn't think he was going to get that chance.