How We Met
It was my first job in TV news— Casper, Wyoming. I knew no one and at the time was sleeping on the futon of our evening anchor in her living room. My apartment wasn’t ready yet. When it finally was, I arrived to find a tall dark and handsome man… I thought I was meeting the property manager but she never showed. So the construction project manager of the building… This man, Lucas would change my life instead. He walked me through the building and helped me pick which unit would be mine for the next three years. Up and down the stairs we went…my decision was a tough one— pick the apartment with the sunset view of the “city” or the one where I could potentially sneak out of my window to the roof. The sunset view won. Little did I know, I would enjoy that sunset with the said project manager.
He told me I needed to celebrate— alas, I hadn’t made friends yet. He gave me his number in case I wanted to go for a drink after my nap (I was an AM anchor— waking up at 2 am wasn’t easy). I texted him, which wasn’t typical for me. We went out for a drink and at first I thought he was so cocky and pretentious… as the night went on, he softened up and we ended up closing down the bar and talking in his car. I understood his tough exterior was an act. From there he never made me make tough decisions alone again. To this day we laugh about how we met— he tells me if I hadn’t texted him, he would have strategically staged himself shirtless outside of my apartment doing hard labor to get my attention. He was willing to work for us and that has not changed in 6 years.
how they asked
It was a long, trying week. It ended with me mustering up the courage to share my “me too” story live on television (as I am a news anchor with FOX43 in PA) it was so freeing but also so emotionally draining. To top it all off, I had planned and orchestrated a trunk or treat work event benefiting the United Way for that weekend. So after I went home and washed off my “evil queen” makeup and Lucas got out of his Jafar costume, I was ready to hit my pillow. Lucas talked me into going to see the fall foliage as it is my absolute favorite time of year— and fall in PA is hard to beat. We drove for a while and he pulled off on the side of the road. He led me off into the woods, on a path definitely not traveled…
He knew exactly where to go— past the red tree on the right and down along the stream… and in the clearing was a wall of diamonds hanging from the trees with a heart carved into a big tree spelling “A + L” with a blank date below. He told me “I came out here today, deep in the woods to show you that I carved our initials in this tree… with the hopes it won’t be disturbed…And I want to come back here in 50 years to see this tree and the initials and how they have become old and wrinkly through the years of sunny days and stormy nights.In fifty years I want to come back here with you.. will you come back here with me? Will you marry me?” Tears flowed and I couldn’t let him go. Of course, I said yes. He filled the blank date in with that exact date— 10-28-17. After nearly 6 years of dating, our future finally began. He made sure to ask my grandfather and my mom’s permission too— those little things mean so much!
