Kathleen

How We Met During the Fall of 2004, Kathleen was living with her familiy in Washington D.C., with plans of moving to Knoxville, Tennessee the following summer. Her family took frequent weekend trips to Tennessee to look at houses, and on such a weekend, Kathleen accompanied a friend of hers (because she had lived in Knoxville before and still had friends from the area) to a local homeschool class for highschoolers. Although Kathleen was quiet and shy, one boy stood out to her. He sat across the room from her, with his blue clipboard, taking notes. He was goofy, talkative, and "always" had the right answers. Over two more trips like this, Kathleen ran into Matthew again, but nothing ever happened and neither of them thought much of it. Fastforward to August 2005, and Kathleen signed up for a German class at a local community college during her junior year of highschool. She walked into class on the first day and, low and behold, Matthew was in her class! He made no indication of ever having met her (and in reality, it took about a year or two for him to remember he had met her before!), so she shyly took a seat across the room. Over the next two semesters of German class, their friendship developed slowly: from first, just doing homework, then IMing on the computer (it was all the rage then), then talking on the phone, to eventually going on dates. Because their relationship was so gradual,  Matthew and Kathleen don't know when it first became "official" that they were a couple, but they celebrate their anniversy from October 14, 2006. The Proposal The day was January 6, 2011. It was a cold and sunny day, and Matthew and Kathleen had plans to go hiking in the mountains. They bundled up, and headed out. Upon reaching the mountains, they were disappointed to find that their original destination was closed, due to dangerous snow and ice conditions. Instead, they drove around until they came to a suitable replacement trail. It was a cold hike up the mountain, but the waterfall at the top was georgeous, especially in all the snow and ice. After enjoying the beauty and taking a few pictures, they hiked back down the mountain and started driving home. On the way, they met Matthew's parents for dinner at a burger place and Matthew and Kathleen made plans to see a movie afterward. They had some time to kill after dinner before the movie, so they got in the car and Matthew started driving. They ended up at Kathleen's parent's old house (which was then vacated). They got out and stood on the driveway and Matthew got down on one knee, and, well, the rest is history. Oh, the spot on the driveway where Matthew proposed was the same spot where they shared their first kiss exactly 4 years prior. :)