Scott works with students with learning disabilities, teaching at Caledonia High School. He went to Grand Valley State University for a Bachelors in Psychology and a Masters in Education in Learning Disabilities
Tiffany is working on her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Cedarville University. She works as a pharmacy intern at University Hospital Case Medical Center in Cleveland and Meijer in Springfield.
If I learned anything from Scott’s proposal, it is that he is way too good at keeping secrets. I’m going to have to watch this one. Either that or I’m just really oblivious. He came up to my parent’s with me for a few days around Christmas just before we left for Pittsburgh, where my family always spends Christmas. (That’s where my extended family is and where my parents grew up). To preface the frustrations surrounding Scott’s plans, I wanted to go to Pittsburgh earlier to show him around the city and stay with one of my relatives, but he refused. I was so mad at him! He had no good reason, or so I thought. Little did I know he had this elaborate proposal planned and we couldn’t go to Pittsburgh early for that reason. All that to say, there was some tension surrounding that time because I could not understand why he either didn’t like my relatives or Pittsburgh.
My family knew about this proposal so I guess glances and hints were exchanged in my presence but of course I had no idea. I was not expecting a proposal. My sister even asked to paint my nails, which she never does, and painted my ring fingers an accent color. Again, totally didn’t pick up on it. I’m just embarrassing myself at this point.
So Scott’s plan was to recreate our first date: ice skating and Italian. Unfortunately for him, Cleveland’s erratic weather proved too warm to ice skate in Wade-Oval Circle, where he wanted to go. I didn’t think it was a big deal, I really wasn’t interested in getting all sweaty before eating as it was. Then Scott was ready to go to Little Italy for Italian but I complain that “we always get Italian” and I suggested we just eat dinner at the place we planned to get dessert, the Chocolate Bar. He agreed, not wanting to put up much resistance to make me suspicious.
My stomach wasn’t aware that he was on a timeline because by 5:00 I was hungry and I was like “I need food now.” Scott took an unusual amount of time to find a parking spot, and it was raining, but he insisted we walk around and take some pictures (to keep us on his time-line). I was not really excited to take pictures in the rain but he usually doesn’t like to do that sort of a thing so we walked around Playhouse Square, East 4th, and the Arcades. When I finally couldn’t put up with the hunger anymore I was like, “okay, let’s go eat.” Looking back, I could tell that he was uncomfortable with the time but luckily we got the slowest waiter ever.
When we were finished, Scott said he wanted to take pictures in the arcade that’s attached to the Chocolate Bar. When we walked out into the lobby, I started to complain about my “food baby” from eating too much, but Scott didn’t really respond. He just set his umbrella down by the Christmas tree and led me down the stairs. I thought to myself, well that’s incredibly rude of him. I’m telling him I don’t feel well and he doesn’t even acknowledge it. Then halfway down the stairs on a platform he stops me and he turns me towards him. He starts his speech with something along the lines of, “you know that you’re my best friend, and I love you,” and I, still oblivious reply enthusiastically “of course, I love you too!” and then he starts getting on one knee. I was like, “oh my goodness, Scott? Are you serious?” and he just starts nodding his head, still giving his speech, digging for the ring in his pocket, and I just blurt out “Yes!”
He put the ring on my finger and we hug when he asks me, “do you hear the clicking?” then I start to hear a faint series of clicks. There was a photographer hiding among the tables the whole time. Capturing from the moment I started complaining about my “food baby” to now. The manager of the hotel in the arcade came out of nowhere with two glasses of champagne, and I was just in complete shock and overwhelmed by the situation.
It was one of the greatest nights of my life and I have never been more surprised then that. Despite the holes I punched through Scott’s plans he managed to pull it off and now we are preparing to say I do in April. I have been blessed with such an amazing guy that can plan such special things for me, roll with the challenges I throw at him, and always put a smile on my face.
-Tiffany
Tiffany and I had been talking for a couple months before we decided to meet. She blew off our first “date.” We were suppose to meet in Fort Wayne, which was halfway between GR and Cedarville. She told me she had to study, but I had a feeling that she got nervous and backed out. However, I decided to keep pursuing her. I had a long weekend for mid-winter break coming up, so I asked her if she was fine with me coming down to Cedarville for the weekend and said yes!
I knew that this weekend was going to make or break our future relationship. It was either going to go well like our conversations have been or be really awkward because we are finally hanging out together in person. On Thursday night, I got Tiffany’s address and was really excited to see her. I decided to drive down to Jackson to make my drive a little shorter to Cedarville. A mile away from home, my low tire pressure notification went off on my car. “It’s probably because it’s so freaking cold outside!” I thought. I pulled into the Mobil gas station by my parent’s house and noticed my front driver’s side tire was completely flat. Just my luck…
All these thoughts started running through my head. Is this God’s way of saying, “Scott, are you nuts? Are you really going to drive 4 hours to hang out with a girl? What if she gave me the address of some serial killer?” Then, I came back to reality and decided that I had to take a leap of faith and find someone that could fix my tire in the morning.
I woke up early to get my flat fixed. When the checked the tire, they found a 2 inch metal shard that went straight through the tire and needed to replace it. They wouldn’t be able to get a tire in until Monday. So, I had to drive and call around to find someone that had my tire. After a couple trips to tire stores and multiple phone calls in between the trips, I found a place that could get the tire in the afternoon and have it installed!
During the entire 4 hour drive down to Cedarville, I was just going through all sorts of crazy scenarios of what might happen. Maybe she won’t let me in because she’s scared. Maybe I’ll end up in some crazy neighborhood where someone jumps me, takes all my stuff and throw me into one of the many cornfields. Maybe, just maybe, this weekend will go really well and she will actually like me.
I finally made it down and found her apartment. There weren’t any cornfields in the neighborhood, so that eased my nerves a little. Tiffany opened the door with a smile on her face while I hid a bouquet of dozen red roses and a bottle of wine. Tiffany made pesto, and it was delicious! I could tell she was nervous, but I was able to make her laugh (probably by making fun of myself) and had a good time with her that evening.
For our first date, I took Tiffany ice skating at an ice arena. I feel like I’m a novice ice skater. Tiffany told me that she took an ice skating lesson, but those didn’t pay off. I thought we would be able to casually skate around, possibly play a little game of tag, but we would need at least 20 more skating lessons before that can happen. She had to hold my hand most of the time, and I’m surprised she didn’t break her ankles. I basically towed her around the ice while she held on, praying that I wouldn’t crash her into someone or the wall. However, we had a great time!
After we went ice skating, we went out for Italian food at Brìo. It was pretty late, and we were both really hungry after burning some calories while ice skating. Actually, I’m always hungry, so that’s nothing new. Tiffany must have been famished because she cleaned off her plate before I even got 3 bites of mine! To this day, her food disappears before I’m halfway done. I wonder where it all goes because I don’t see any results from her food consumption! After we had dinner, I decided to ask Tiffany if she would officially be my ladyfriend. The weekend was going well, and I knew that she was an amazing woman that I wanted to be with. She responded with the most monotone, nonchalant “sure.” She may have given a shoulder shrug. However, as our relationship has matured, she has become the most thoughtful, caring and affectionate person in the world to me and am so excited for our future together!
-Scott