Our story began back in 2011 or maybe it was 2012. If you ask us, neither can remember the exact year. We were both working for the Missouri Department of Conservation in separate offices and attended the same week-long training in Jefferson City. As fate would have it, we even ended up sitting across from each other at the same table. We made an instant connection and spent the week discovering mutual interests and commonalities such as a daughter (Joe) and niece (Angie) who were close in age, 9 yrs and 8 yrs respectively. We enjoyed each other's company all week (we've admitted after -the-fact that we were both crushing on each other a bit) but parted ways when the training was over. Our paths crossed multiple times over the next few years. Maybe it wasn't always happenstance when this happened. Angie did sometimes seek Joe out as he was one of her favorite work people. Joe also secretly liked that Angie did this as the feeling was mutual.
Fast forward to 2014, when we were coincidentally at another work event together held at the Lake of the Ozarks. We were drawn to each other once again this time at an after-hours social function. We spent much of the evening laughing, reconnecting, and intrigued to learn more about each other. After we each returned home, Joe made the first move by sending Angie a Facebook request and asking her to go to lunch with him. She eagerly accepted. Sparks flew on their first date which interestingly involved a coyote walking on ice and a parking ticket (long story). The rest is now history!
Our first drink of the trip eagerly anticipating the sunset on Marathon Key. We arrived in Florida on November 16, 2021 as boyfriend and girlfriend. Angie is very unsuspecting at this point and has no idea what's in store for her.
Here we're enjoying some R&R on the beach at Bahia Honda State Park on Big Pine Key. It's now November 19th and we've been in Florida for 4 days, we're halfway through our trip. Joe hasn't popped the question yet. Angie remains clueless. Joe was like a magician keeping the ring hidden in his wallet the entire time and for not letting it slip to Angie. He had the ring stashed at home for several months prior.
Our last sunset in the keys on Key Largo since we had to start driving back home the following day. We were chasing those sunsets all trip that kept getting overshadowed (literally) by overcast skies and rain showers in the afternoons.
Coincidentally, this is also our last night together as boyfriend and girlfriend. All the excitement is just around the corner. Joe's probably getting pretty nervous at this point and Angie is still blissfully oblivious.
The proposal almost didn't happen because of this guy. We took a driving tour through the northern part of the Everglades as we were making our way home. We stumbled across two anglers at a culvert crossing that were fishing invasive cichlids out of the stream and feeding them to a couple of alligators.
Angie was highly entertained watching them throw the fish into the gators' mouths. Which of course ceased once she tried to take a video of it. Time after time the fish were thrown at the gator and he missed it. The minutes were ticking buy as sunset was fast approaching. At this point, Joe had plans in motion to propose at that time once they reached Anna Maria Island which was the next stop. It's now well past 2 PM with a good portion of the scenic Everglades drive left plus the 3+ hours it took to get there. Sunset was at 5:36 PM that day. Joe's starting to get a bit anxious at this point, understandably, which Angie notices but she's still completely unaware of what awaits her.
Joe had to shift gears pretty quickly once he realized we would not make it to Anna Maria Island by sunset. Luckily Joe had Captiva and Sanibel Island on his radar since his friend Zack had tipped him off to it several days prior. Zack had commented on this being a beautiful and romantic destination. After a quick phone Google search of the best beaches on the island, Turner Beach on Captiva was discovered and we were switching gears.
Traffic was starting to pick up approaching the Fort Meyers area and there was a steady line of cars driving over the Sanibel Causeway. We reached Turner Beach with about 15 minutes to sunset and discovered the parking lot was full. Overflow parking was about 3 miles past that. Luckily Angie had noticed another parking lot they had passed that was for the adjacent, Blind Pass Beach, on Sanibel Island. We zipped over there and completely lucked out by getting the last parking spot. The stars were starting to align. We now had about 10 minutes to spare to reach the beach and get settled before the show started.
This was one of the most beautifully sunsets Angie had ever seen. She was in aww with how calm and beautiful everything was and started snapping some pics. She looked down just as the sun was setting and there was a very sparkly ring in her field of vision with Joe beaming, down on two knees, and asking Angie to be his wife. It was a completely perfect moment and of course SHE SAID YES to marrying the man of her dreams. All of this happened precisely at sunset, 5:36 p.m. on the dot, which was Joe's plan all along so we would always remember the exact minute we were engaged. And so it began our next adventure as a newly engaged couple. The rest will soon be history.