How We Met

Kari and I met in the beginning of September 2000 at Bowling Green State University. Our first encounter was at ACT (Active Christians Today). During the worship service Kari told her friend she recognized me from the marching band. So, her friend said, “Go talk to him!” While tearing down my drumset she approached me and we then introduced ourselves to each other. Because of the large number of people involved in the Falcon Marching Band, I had no idea she was a member of the flag corps. It’s almost amazing that she even recognized me! After that night we began to talk during marching band on a regular basis. A couple weeks later I asked her if she would like to come over to my apartment to “hang out.” She said “yes” so quickly that I actually asked her on another date without knowing how the first would go!

For our first official date we went to Detroit to see the Detroit Symphony perform Beethoven’s 5th and a few other well known pieces. My roommate and his date went along also. We all fell asleep at some point in the concert, but all in all it was a good time. We continued to see each other on a regular basis as our love grew for one another. We liked each other a lot, but she wasn’t convinced that it was the right time to go out yet. Finally, on October 21 (Sweetest Day) I asked her out and she said “yes” (yippee)! As our relationship grew, so did our love. We became best friends and wanted to spend every minute we could with each other.

That Christmas we decided to vacation with each other. We had three weeks for break, but our parents only had one (both of our parents are teachers). So instead of sitting at home bored, we went to Florida to stay with my Grandma and Grandpa Smith. While in Florida we went to Universal Studios, Busch Gardens, City Walk and of course I went golfing with Grandpa. The power window on the driver’s side broke at Universal Studios and I had to drive all the way back to Sebring wearing a winter hat and gloves in 40 degree weather (pretty windy too)!

I proposed to Kari on April 20, 2001. At this time we had only been going out for six months, but we knew that it was meant to be. That night, I made dinner for her and had the table set upstairs so that she would have no idea what was going on when she got home. The table was covered in red rose pedals with a candle on each side. Four dozen roses laid on her bed. After eating and a little bit of dancing, I popped the question. She later told me that when she first saw the roses on the bed, the thought the idea of me proposing did cross her mind but she didn’t think I would actually do it that night. Boy was she wrong!