Our Story: From Matt’s Perspective

How We Met

We met the only way two curlers could: on the ice, with brooms in hand and, at least for me, some nerves about finally getting to meet the cute girl that caught my eye earlier that morning. We faced off as opponents in a tight match, both of us as the skip (Captain), in what may have been the best game of my life. I won (a fact I’m surprisingly still allowed to brag about), but little did I know that the real victory was yet ahead.

After the game, I hung around in the clubhouse, hoping to talk to her while broomstacking (Drinks and snacks after the game). I waited. And waited. But she never came down. I figured she’d left early—maybe not interested, maybe just busy. What I didn’t know was she had stayed to chat with her family, who had come out to support her. I was just about to leave when she came down and didn’t just ask, but rather TOLD me I needed another beer. There was no need to twist my arm. We stayed for another 2 hours until the club was almost empty. I had such a great time that I forgot to ask for her number. I figured I could find her on Instagram or Facebook, but she didn’t have either. I thought that was it, that I’d had my one shot and missed it.

But then, a week later, like something out of a rom-com, we ran into each other again. She was subbing for another team, and while we were on separate sheets and playing separate games, I couldn’t stop glancing her way, and she seemed to be sneaking looks at me too. At the end of the game, I refused to make the same mistake as the week before. I went right up to her and asked for her number. She told me no…. But then asked “What are you doing after this?” We left immediately to grab a drink, and that drink then turned into dinner, and that dinner turned into the most wonderful 2 years of my life.

The Proposal

Kelly always thought she would know when I had a ring. She thought I would make a mistake, say something to tip her off, or she would even find the ring before I could propose. Obviously that meant I couldn’t let any of that happen. This past March, I had the perfect opportunity. We were going to Florence, Italy to visit my sister while she was studying abroad, and I know that Italy is one of Kellys favorite places in the world. I kept everything a secret. Only a few people knew my plans including both of our parents and a few of our friends. I didn’t even tell my sister that she was going to be our photographer until 2 weeks before the trip. When we were going through TSA, I was paranoid that an agent would pull me aside to ask why I had a ring hidden in a bottle of fiber gummies. When we were walking up to a beautiful viewpoint under the guise of visiting a church, I thought Kelly would be suspicious that my sister pulled her camera out to “take pictures of some pretty clouds”. And I definitely was nervous when she went quiet about 5 minutes before we got to the top (turns out we were both just out of breath from the hill that we had just hiked up). When we got to a beautiful overlook of Florence, almost entirely by ourselves, I grabbed her hands, got down on one knee, and waited for her to say yes through happy tears. As I stood up to hug her and celebrate, we turned around to a crowd of 30 clapping for us that I completely missed because I got tunnel vision. So much for that completely private proposal I had planned. It was perfect though.

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