As Frankie Ballard once said, “it all started with a beer” – and aren’t we all glad it did. A Bud Light and a Mill St. Organic, to be specific.
Set up on a blind date by mutual friends, one of them being Lauren’s best friend Krissie, Lauren and Mike weren’t expecting to fall in love. They had met the summer before when Mike installed a subwoofer in Lauren’s Matrix. When Krissie arranged the date, Lauren contemplated cancelling; instead, she arrived late, as usual. After hours of sitting and talking, they realized they had a shared history, not least of all their love of metal music. It felt like they had known each other forever. What they didn’t yet know was that they also shared a future.
On their second date, Mike pulled up with a trailer and two four wheelers. Lauren had never driven a manual four-wheeler and had a quite a learning curve. However, like most other things, she was a quick study. Mike took her to Limerick Forest, and they spent the day riding, talking and ripping trails.
Next was the test for Mike when, a few dates later, Lauren took Mike horseback riding. Anyone who knows Mike will know that he wouldn’t do that for just anyone. It was at this point she knew Mike was the real deal. This guy was different. You could say that Lauren was smitten, but don’t tell that to Mike. Lauren was impressed with how quietly confident and calm he was. And although not a man of many words, one can assume that Mike was in awe of Lauren’s confidence, capability and compassion. They just seemed to fit.
They became inseparable. Only four short months later, they moved in together. When the opportunity came up for Lauren to move to Haliburton for work, she seriously considered it; Mike asked her to stay, and Lauren was shocked. Up until that point in her life, no one could have made Lauren stay put, but Mike did.
Two years after their first date they bought a house in Spencerville and filled it with two fur babies, Griffin and Garth, Lauren’s beloved horses, and Mike’s four wheelers.
Mike proposed in a castle overlooking a lake in upstate New York. Although Lauren had planned the trip, Mike was planning a little surprise of his own. Having spent the first night of their trip in a seedy motel, the plan was to go on a hike and then drive to their next hotel. After their hike, with Mike behind the wheel, it slowly began to dawn on Lauren that she didn’t know where they were headed. It turns out Mike had booked the next few nights at a beautiful castle hotel and had managed to keep the entire thing a secret. With the help of his friend Warren, and Lauren’s parents, Mike crafted Lauren’s dream ring, using diamonds form within her family’s heirlooms.
While it all started with a beer, it ended with an “I do”. And the rest, as they say, is history.