How they met
They met August 2006 at Michigan State University. Nick was in the second year of his Ph.D. in Communication at MSU, and Jen was an incoming M.A. student in the same department. Well, technically they “met” on Facebook when Jen contacted Nick in the summer before she came to MSU. She was simply trying to contact folks who were in the Communication Department, and Nick needed an extra girl for his softball team. The two started talking online, and when Jen came to Michigan in August, Nick met her and her family in a little ice cream parlor near the MSU campus. They met up again at softball practice a few days later, and have been dating every since.
The proposal
It was Friday, February 27. Little did Jen know, Nick left early for work to attend a “special research meeting.” This wasn’t strange at all, as Friday was Nick’s research days so he was always at the office on Fridays. Instead, Nick left early to meet up with a friend of his who happened to be a local Michigan jeweler (one of his former students’ family owns Medawar Jeweler).
Nick met up with his former student and sifted through engagement rings, before settling on a one-of-a-kind, custom-made 1.5 carat beauty. How did Nick pay for this? For the past two years, Nick had been telling Jen that a percentage of his paycheck was being deposited into a 401(K); in fact, Nick had been squirreling money away for an engagement ring almost since the day the two met.
Later that day, Nick came home from work with a plan. He was going to place the ring on Jen’s favorite teddy bear – a polar bear appropriately named “Bear” – and when Jen went to bed later that evening she would see the ring. One problem. Nick was home around 5:00pm, and Jen came home around 5:15pm. She was having a horrible day, and when she walked in she was in no mood to talk or listen to anything. She was upset at Michigan drivers, Michigan weather, and just about anything related to Michigan. She stormed into the house, threw her stuff down on the bed, and…saw something odd with her teddy bear. At that point, Nick dropped to one knee, and proposed.
The newly-engaged couple celebrated with a dinner at their favorite local restaurant, Reno’s East.
