St. Patricks Day, 2011

Punta Gorda, Florida 

Within minutes of arriving at Jacks, a bar downtown,  I found myself to be the third wheel on the dance floor.  The girl I was there with was was talking to a guy and I was keeping an eye on her to make sure she was okay. Basically, I was just bopping around the dance floor trying not to be totally awkward.

Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I see this massive giant jump up and lunge towards my friend and the guy she was dancing with, screaming “I LOVE THIS SONG!” In the process, he elbowed me in the head and I fell face down onto the dirty bar floor.

I heard someone ask if I was okay, extending his hand to help me up. That someone was Kyle.  If I wasn't so upset from being knocked to the floor, I might have thought the guy in a green t-shirt was a gentleman.  

Unfortunately, for Kyle, I assumed that he was the one who hit me in the head. I let him have it. After I was done cursing him out,  he simply said “that wasn’t me” motioning toward the mammoth guy jumping around dancing around near my friend. The guy pointed back at Kyle smiling. The rest of our conversation went something like this:

KYLE: WHAT'S YOUR NAME?

sam: what's yours?

KYLE: Kyle.

Sam: I'm Samantha.

KYLE: ARE YOU FROM HERE?

SAM: NO. ARE YOU?

KYLE: No. WHAT DO YOU DO?

SAM: WHAT DO YOU DO?

KYLE: I'm here for work.

SAM: Me too.

KYLE: So you're not going to tell me what you do?

SAM: I work in sports.

KYLE: Me too.

Then our conversation was interrupted by the friend I was at the bar with--she came running over because she had just gotten into a fight with the guy she just met. "These guys think I'm stupid" she went on "He said they are on the Tampa Bay Rays." Mind you, both my friend and I had previously worked for the Durham Bulls. We knew who was on the team.

I looked at the giant guy who hit me in the head, the one my friend was dancing with, and then back at Kyle.   Two out of the three guys were big, but I just rolled my eyes thinking how pathetic it was for the short guy to use the baseball line on my friend.

Kyle seemed embarrassed and tried to clarify the situation but it was too late. I had already stereotyped him, yelling at him for being out during Spring Training. "Don't you realize what type of opportunity you have?!...You can party when you're 40!" Kyle insisted that he didn't normally go out and actually, that this was the first time he had gone out during spring training.

Yea right, like I was going to believe that. I asked how they were getting home because part of me felt like it was my duty, as a former Durham Bulls employee, to make sure these guys got back home safely. 

Kyle sent me a Facebook friend request and message that night. 

Talk about an understatement. Who could have guessed that real romance would come from a knock in the head and a few Facebook conversations?

It's seriously such a miracle that Kyle reached out with me to begin with online. Looking back on it, we probably only spent a few minutes talking at the bar--he was stoic, shy, and yet something about him felt so powerful which totally confused me. 

A few days after I dropped Kyle and his friends off at their hotel I had another friend, Lacey Schiele, come visit me in Florida. I told her about the weird night I had had, bumping into a few young gun ball players. I told her Kyle had found me on Facebook but I didn't have any intention of seeing him again. Obviously, I thought it would somehow ruin my sports media career. Lacey insisted that it was a harmless situation and eventually convinced me to reach back out to Kyle and give him a chance.  

Kyle and I had our first official date on April 4, 2011. I remember because it was the NCAA championship game. 

My inspiration for the proposal can be described in three words...Worst. Date. Ever.  

The date itself on the night of the proposal wasn’t bad, rather, a dinner date in 2011 had Samantha running for the hills!  

It was Sunday, April 17th, exactly one month after we had met.  One would think by this time in a normal relationship/friendship all of the awkwardness would be gone.  However, I’m not normal.  I was really making Sam work to get me out of my shell.  I was not doing this on purpose, though.  I was shy!  I was intimidated!  Here’s a gorgeous woman trying to talk to a "fresh 21 year old” (as she described me) and getting crickets in return.  Long story short she had enough.  She was completely convinced that this wasn’t going anywhere and it was time to say goodbye for good.  Luckily for me I can kick a tire or two.  Sam thought her Jeep tires might be low and I came to the rescue.  Finally, some brownie points in my favor!  Then I remembered I brought some chocolates to give to Sam.  Sensing she was still on the fence about us I asked if she would walk with me to my car.  She agreed.  When she saw the chocolates I’m pretty sure her heart melted.  Right?  Well, at least it was a start!  I didn’t want our date to be over so I asked if she wanted to walk downtown a bit.  She was reluctant, however, felt bad enough to give me a second chance.  We walked for hours.  The sun had almost completely faded along with any chance I had to make a move!  What was I waiting for?!  The perfect moment?  Was I waiting for the nerves and butterflies to subside?  They were getting worse!  Then I saw my opening.  We were walking along a boardwalk by the water, leading up to an archway of mangroves.  Story book.  This is my chance to really win her over.  The funny thing is Sam saw it coming, too.  Just as we got to the archway she started to turn back!  It’s now or never.  Make a move!  I reached out for her right shoulder, turned her toward me and gave her what she describes as 'the most romantic kiss of her life!' Amazing, that only took me three hours to do.  Nevertheless, I’d say the night was salvaged and I had won myself another date.

Now that you have the back story the proposal is easy.  Sam and I recreated the night of our first kiss on November 7th, 2014.  She thought we were just going for a quick stroll before meeting her parents for dinner.  Little did she know both of our parents would be waiting at the same mangrove archway to greet us as a newly engaged couple.  We took the same route as before just with a bit quicker pace.  She played along nicely, talking to my GoPro camera along the way.  Since I had the camera she was carrying the camera case.  What she didn’t know was that the case had in it something even better than a camera.  Yes, she was carrying her own engagement ring.  Totally unaware.  That didn’t calm my nerves at all.  I made a switch for the ring just before we arrived at the sight of our first kiss.  When we got there I set up the camera on the railing of the boardwalk to free up my hands.  I had a ring box bulging from my right pocket.  Surely Sam had to notice.  She still says she didn’t, though.  Our parent’s were hiding around the corner of the mangroves down the walkway a bit.  I had Sam’s back facing away from their direction that way they could sneak up to hear the proposal.  I didn’t realize my father would get within three feet of us!  I underestimated his stealthiness.  Samantha was still totally unaware.  It wasn’t until the moment I’m down on my knee with a ring in my hand that she knew something was different.  I have to imagine she was in shock.  “It took you four years to propose?!”  Just kidding.  She was wondering who these strange people were standing behind her during this special moment.  Surprise!  Now everyone can breathe and celebrate and cry.  It was the perfect beginning of the next chapter in our crazy, exciting, emotional, and loving lives. 

Kyle proposed on November 7, 2014 and we celebrated right then and there with both of our parents and a bottle of champagne! Was I surprised? Yes. Did I know Kyle and I would get married before he proposed? Yes. 

HERE IS A CONVERSATION I HAD WITH MY FRIEND LEA ON JUNE 6, 2011