Her Story

​

  We met at St. Norbert in De Pere, Wisconsin. For me, it was a longstanding family tradition (14th person in my family to attend) and the chance to play soccer that led me North. Arik grew up a few blocks away, lucky for me- he did not travel too far from home. We lived in the same dorm freshman year and fell into a mutual group of friends….however, our LOVE story did not begin until we were older and wiser. We began dating Senior year…although I do not like to admit it, I made the 1st move. With only 3 months until graduation and plans to head back to Chicago, we never questioned what was going to happen….we accepted long distance and Arik took a job offer in Wisconsin and I accepted one downtown Chicago. For over a year, we saw each other almost every weekend- one of us making the 3 hour drive after an 8+ hour workday on Friday. Eventually, Arik made the move down to Chicago. I have never been one with deadlines or expectations, so the proposal was the biggest surprise of my life. We had talked about getting married and I knew that there was no one else that I wanted to share my life with, I have never met a person as patient and caring as Arik and someone who can accept my quirky personality fully without question. However, he had really thrown me for a loop the month before. We have been driving to his Uncle’s wedding in Michigan and we began talking about the future. He essentially told me that he was “still getting settled in Chicago” and was thinking that we should get married in 5 years when we had saved up more money and could buy a house right away. Now, I am not normally one to get snappy…but 5 years seemed to be a stretch….little did I know, he already had the ring and was planning to pop the question within the month. Arik proposed at St. Norbert- he snuck me on campus by telling me we were meeting his parents for lunch at a campus restaurant and he got down on one knee in front of the church. He planned a party following with both of our families so that we could all celebrate together. It really was a perfect moment and I do not think I absorbed a single second because I was in pure shock. Now, I am excited for what the future has in store :)