How we met:
Roger and Amanda met while they were both living in Antrim-Froggatt-McCalmont Hall during their freshman year at the University of Wisconsin - Stout. His roommate, Matt, was friends with Amanda's roommate, Michelle, which was initially how they were introduced to each other. They gradually got to know each other over their first 6 months at AFM and eventually one night (March 5th, 2007) while looking at pictures on Facebook, Roger decided to put his head on Amanda's shoulder. At that moment, she realized how she really felt about him and put her head on his as well... and the rest is history.
Our Proposal - March 22, 2014:
The story starts the weekend of March 15th, 2014 - about a week and a half after Roger and Amanda’s 7th anniversary.
Roger and Amanda were lounging around their apartment late on a Saturday night. Out of nowhere, Roger mentions that he wanted to go on a date - not just the same old dates to happy hour at Applebees, but somewhere nice. Later on in the week, Roger mentions that he thinks they should go to Redstone, a local upscale restaurant, that upcoming Saturday. Amanda offers to call them and make reservations as this restaurant is usually very busy for dinner, but Roger quickly says that he will take care of them and that she shouldn’t worry about anything.
The morning of the date, Amanda and her parents, Rick and Diane, are out for their typical Saturday morning antique/thrifting outings. Amanda discovers an original XBOX (with controller and games) and immediately buys it for Roger. He is thrilled and can’t wait to tell Amanda his plans for this when she gets back home. Amanda and her parents had plans to go up to an antique shop in Buffalo where Rick had seen an old radio he wanted to get and fix. The later in the day it got, the more Amanda’s suspicions she’d been experiencing all week ate at her and she knew she had to say something or she would go crazy. She told her dad that she thought Roger was up to something… like he was going to propose that evening. Rick tells her that they don’t see much of Roger and that he doesn’t know of any information that would confirm any of her crazy theories about the evening’s intentions.
Little does Amanda know, Roger has had a ring for the last two weeks. The day he picked it up, he had called her parents, joined them for dinner, and asked to marry their daughter. Of course, they said yes, but not before Rick, being the comedian that he is, got in a joke about what Roger would have done if they had said no.
As the reservation time nears, Amanda headed home to get ready. Although her conversation with her dad had her second-guessing her feelings, her gut still told her something was still going on. She decides that she should still get a little dressy - after all, they didn’t get to go to fancy restaurants every day! Even if it didn’t happen, they would still look spiffy and have a nice meal. Once at the Redstone, they get seated immediately in the “best spot in the house” next to the kitchen. Atmosphere, excellent service, delicious food… everything was set-up just so. Amanda was starting to think that her intuition was actually right for once and was starting to believe that a proposal was going to happen at any second!
The couple finished eating and the check came. Roger paid the bill and they got ready to leave… with no proposal! Amanda was surprised by how crushed she felt… her intuition usually isn’t the most reliable, but she had never been more sure that she could believe it. On the drive home, Amanda pretended she wasn’t disheartened while Roger happily chatted about their awesome dinner. He turns to her and says that he has a surprise when they got back to the apartment. Amanda quickly forgot she was upset at all and saw a small glimmer of hope that a proposal was still possible. At her reaction, he simply smiles and tells her that he wants to show her what he is going to do with his newly-acquired XBOX. With that, any hope that Amanda had remaining for a proposal was now gone.
The couple arrives home to a typical greeting from their cats, Doolittle and Dot. After they were done tripping over the cat-children trying to take off their shoes, Amanda goes to hang her coat in the usual spot on the dining room chair. Halfway there, Roger comes up behind Amanda and gives her a big hug.
Roger: “Amanda, how long have we been together?”
Amanda, smiling, realizing that this is the moment she had been waiting all night for: “…what are you doing?”
Roger: “Just answer the question please…”
Amanda: “7 years…”
Roger: “Do you ever feel like we’re married?”
Amanda: “Yes….”
Roger: “Do you want to make it official?”
Amanda turns around and Roger takes a small black box out of his coat pocket; he’s wearing the goofiest smile that Amanda has ever seen. He opens the box and presents the ring to Amanda. Roger watches her face go from confusion, to shock, to brief elatedness, to sobbing in a matter of seconds. Amanda doesn’t even give him an answer for at least a minute, but eventually, with barely a voice, she says yes!
