How We Met
Eric and I met 3 years ago, while working at the city pool. I had come back home to Council Grove the summer before my senior year of college and needed a summer job (boy am I glad I chose to work at the pool!). Eric was a high school math teacher in Council Grove, so he worked as the assistant manager at the pool for that summer. As soon as I met him, I had a huge crush on him! But of course he was my boss, so there wasn’t much I could do.
A few months later after I had returned to college, and he was beginning his school year we began talking more and more. One of my good friends’ husband is a teacher at Council Grove High School as well, and together they worked pretty hard to set us up. Luckily it did’t take us too long to realize we in fact were a great fit together, and we have been together pretty much ever since!
how they asked
For my birthday, we had planned to go back home, spend time with my family and have a relaxing weekend. My mom traditionally lets us choose our birthday dinners, so I chose to have a BBQ. It was September so it was perfect weather to spend time outside. My little brother (a freshman in college) had planned to come home that weekend, my older brother was coming home to work with my dad, and my sister and her family decided to come down as well. None of this is out of the ordinary, my family is very close, so it is pretty typical for us to all get together. My mom had prepared A LOT of food, but she said that each of us kids had really wanted different side dishes for the BBQ, so she just went ahead and made them all. My mom is very selfless, and my family loves food, so this made perfect sense to me.
Eric and I love to golf, and anytime we go to Council Grove, we try to go out. For my birthday, I really wanted to go golf, so we had it all planned to go out on Sunday morning. My dad is an avid golfer so he usually plays with us, but he said he couldn’t come because him and my brother really needed to finish a job. I asked my brother in law to join us as well, but he said he also had work he needed to get done. So on Sunday morning after breakfast, Eric and I went out to the golf course by ourselves.
It was a perfect day, and we were having a blast together on the course. We got to the 9th hole, and I chipped on the green, with the possibility of getting my first birdie ever. I was pretty focused on making that putt, and as I was setting up, Eric pulled the flag out. As he did, something black kind of fell out, and he said it was the cup that had come out. I haven’t been playing golf very long, so that explanation made sense to me. After a long time, I finally putted, and ended up about a foot or 2 short of the hole. I could sort of see in the hole, but wasn’t too worried, so I finished out the hole, then I told Eric that something was messed up with the hole, because I could still see something black in there. He asked me what it was, and I was totally confused at this point.
He reached down and picked up the mysterious black box, and then got down on one knee as he asked me to marry him. I was so shocked, and immediately began crying, and of course said YES! It was no where on my radar to even be suspicious of anything, so it came as such a great surprise. I later found out that as we were golfing, Eric had texted my little brother when we were nearing the end, so he could plant the ring, and then he hid in the cart shed and recorded the whole thing!
After hugging and crying happy tears, we made our way back to my parents’ house, where I then got my 2nd surprise. What I thought was my birthday BBQ, ended up actually being a surprise engagement party for us. Eric’s entire family was there, as well as mine, which explains why my mom had to make so much food! My whole family was in on the engagement plan, and somehow I had no idea! It was the perfect day, and the best way to start our engagement!
