How We Met
One day in May 2013 I got a phone call from Eric, my old tennis coach, wondering if I could work for him at the Horizon Middle School Field Day (for $20 an hour – which seemed like a fortune since I was still in college!). Flash forward to 7:30 am the next morning at Horizon Middle School. I showed up wearing a huge tank top and running shorts, no make up, and a messy bun when I normally would be wearing a cute tennis outfit and making myself look rather presentable….but this morning I happened to be running late. After I arrived, about 15 minutes pass by and Nick showed up. I was immediately attracted to him- how could I not be with his striking looks? As the day went on we had great conversation and I was very impressed with how well he worked with kids. I specifically remember making fun of him because he had never had Kona Ice (slushies from a traveling truck) before and he admitted to liking the Bachelor! When it was time to leave, I just got in my car and received a text from an unknown number asking if I wanted to play tennis soon. I assumed it was him, and to this day we still argue about how he got my number – he says it was in a group text with Eric, but I was never in a group chat! I left that day with a huge crush (even though at the time I had a boyfriend of 6 years). The rest of the summer I spent all the time I could playing him in tennis, and (at the time) kicking his butt on the court :)
how they asked
Ahhh, the proposal. Keep in mind, Nick and I said that we loved each other after dating for two short weeks, so the proposal was a long time coming. I assumed we were going to get engaged sometime during the summer of 2015, but I did not know when it would actually happen. It is very hard to keep a secret from me (Nick likes to call me an investigator because I figure everything out!), but somehow Nick pulled it off perfectly. Our Saturday morning began like any other – woke up to teach cardio tennis at 8 a.m. then came home to get ready for a surprise bus trip to the Cubs game in Chicago for my mom’s birthday. We were sneaking around the house and scheming how not to spill the beans to my mom that a bus filled with tennis friends and family was picking us up at our house at 11:00 am, rather than just a couple of her friends. She’s a detective like me and not much gets past her. Around 10:20 a.m. Nick tells me he has to leave and take his mom to get her car fixed. I am furious because Nick is notoriously late and he was going to ruin the surprise for my mom and hold everyone up! Soon enough the bus arrives and Nick and his mom are still not at our house. My mom is thrilled and happy, but also upset that Nick is once again, late. I must have texted him and his mom at least a dozen times and neither one would respond. I later learned that they were too afraid I would figure it out if they said one wrong thing so they just ignored my texts altogether. When we got on the bus, Lisa Langfeldt – a schemer and planner of the proposal along with Nick and his mom – immediately made me sit in the front row, which I was not thrilled about. She explained that she talked to Liz and Nick and we would pick them up on the Toll Road AFTER we picked up her own husband because they couldn’t get a ride for their daughter to swim practice. We headed in the wrong direction and everyone on the bus was pretty upset because they wanted to get to Chicago for the game. I was embarrassed because I knew it was Nick’s fault that we were running behind. After a ten minute drive we came down a hill and Lisa told me to look out the window. It is then that I see a huge sign that said”Jessica Will You…” over the Horizon Middle School sign where we first met when we taught tennis for field day two years prior. I immediately burst into tears – happy of course – as the bus pulled around to the tennis courts and Nick was standing there with another sign that said “Marry Me?” I got off of the bus, walked to him, and he knelt down and proposed. Everyone filed off of the bus and Lisa’s husband was there all along videotaping the proposal, along with Nick’s mom. Her car didn’t need repaired, and Lisa’s daughter didn’t need a ride to swim practice. Everyone on the bus who was initially angry and a little annoyed, was suddenly filled with emotions of joy and shock, just like me. They witnessed a proposal that was completed unexpected. I honestly could not have asked for a more perfect proposal. My parents, my aunt and uncle, a few cousins, and many of my parents’ friends were there to witness it and we had the rest of the day to celebrate in Chicago at a Cubs game! Once we got on the bus, Nick had goodie bags waiting for us with mini cupcakes, mini champagne bottles, and bride and groom champagne glasses. Nick also had the cutest shirts made for us to wear to the game- mine said “I SAID YES!” and his said “SHE SAID YES!” so all throughout the day random cubs fans would come up to us and say congrats.To top things off, three of my best friends, Bridget, Laura, and Gabby, were all in Chicago for the same game so we all met up and celebrated at the bars in Wrigleyville! To this day, I think my mom is a little bitter that we stole the show that day – which was supposed to be her birthday party :)
