How We Met
At K-State in the summer of 2013, I was finishing up being a Wildcat Warm-up counselor and was getting ready to go back to school. I was confident I had made the right choice in changing my major and was determined that I did not need a boyfriend during my undergrad years. Gordon was busy with his internship and was preparing to run for President of Theta Xi. He and his VP had made a deal that they would be single together the entire time that they were in office.
July 19th, 2013 was the night of a mutual friend’s birthday. Both Gordon and I came to celebrate our friend and ended up meeting at the party. We hit it off and chatted for much of the night. We both thought the other was cute, but went our separate ways (but not before Gordon got my number by asking me to come to test his gluten-free crackers he was working on in his lab, and he was serious haha!) I went to his cracker testing, and he wasn’t even there! It would not be until Halloween that our paths would cross again.
Our accidental meetings seemed to snowball after Halloween. Somehow we wound up spending time together at football games, friend’s shot nights, or just around campus. But even after pulling an all-nighter together with some friends, we were both still set on being single and continuing to focus on school.
Theta Xi Semi-Formal was just around the corner, and I had already been asked to go, so Gordon needed a date. Thankfully my MOH, Allison, was available that night. While we both had other dates, Gordon and I spent the majority of the evening hanging out together. Our friends continued to try to find reasons to get us to hang out, and it became clear to everyone (other than us) that we had feelings for each other.
Winter break rolled around, and Gordon and I would stay up till the wee hours of the morning talking on the phone. Gordon even invited several of my friends over to watch the K-State vs. KU basketball game, so that I would have a reason to come to KC and see him.
All of our friends were headed back to Manhattan for New Year’s Eve, and so we decided to meet up there. There were lots of butterflies as we all headed down to Aggieville to watch the “little apple” drop, and at midnight Gordon and I shared our first kiss. We finally told each other how we felt, and the rest is history.
How They Asked
Gordon and I spent a lot of time out at Tuttle Creek Lake at The Point during our college years. One evening in 2014, after we had been together about six months, we sat around a fire at The Point and talked about what we hoped for our futures, and where we saw ourselves in five years. We’ve always thought of this place as where we really fell in love.
On July 21st, 2018, Gordon and I were excited to head to Manhattan for a nice summer Saturday. My younger brother, Jack, was visiting my other brother, Ethan, in Manhattan to explore K-State. I thought it was a perfect reason to go visit (other than Taco Lucha of course). We spent the afternoon with Ethan and Jack, and when they needed to leave to meet with the Theta Xi recruitment chair, Gordon suggested we head out to Tuttle Creek Lake before we would meet them for dinner at the Little Grill later.
When we parked, Gordon realized he still needed to get the ring out of the trunk. In order to distract me, he decided the least suspicious thing to do was to throw a water bottle over my head into the grass. It worked, as I turned around and went to pick it up, even though I thought it was a little weird. We made our way down to The Point and took some time to enjoy the view. This was when I noticed some people on the other side of the rocks we were standing on. Before I could head over to check it out, Gordon started talking. He said, how crazy was it that four years ago we had sat out here talking about our five-year plans when at the end of that fifth year, we would be getting married? Then Gordon got on one knee and asked me to marry him! I was so excited that I forgot to actually say “yes”! People would ask if I’d said yes, and Gordon would respond with “well she hasn’t answered yet”, to which I would just laugh and say “of course I said yes!”. I was convinced I had said “yes” until about two hours later when Gordon told me it wasn’t a joke when he said I hadn’t answered yet. (Don’t worry, I said yes a million times after he told me this)
Shortly after Gordon proposed, Ethan and Jack popped out of the bushes. It turns out that the people I was walking over to see were my brothers taking pictures. The surprise wasn’t over yet. I asked Gordon if we should call our parents, and he said no, they would be at dinner. When we got to Colbert Hills Country Club (we were never going to the Little Grill) for dinner, I was surprised to find that not only were both of our families there but several of our close friends as well, including some who live out of state! I learned that everyone had known this was happening for MONTHS! (I am a nosy person when it comes to this stuff, so I just have to say I am beyond impressed with all of my friends and family who kept this from me for so long!)
Gordon planned the perfect proposal and surprise. We got to enjoy the rest of the evening surrounded by our loved ones in the city where it all started. June 1st, 2019 can’t come soon enough!
