Our Story

At the beginning of spring semester 2003, I would have told you that I didn't have any kind of chance at ever getting together with Sara.

I knew who she was when I started working as a columnist for the Arizona State University student newspaper a year earlier. Anytime I came down to the office, I couldn't help but notice how cute the managing editor was. But she was so quiet and focused on her work that I was sure she had no interest in talking to me.

In the summer of 2002, I stayed at home in St. Louis, bumming around the Anheuser Busch brewery while some of my best friends were having the time of their lives on the Honors College study abroad trip to Paris. They came back with a bunch of wacky stories and a new friend – Sara.

When a girl as beautiful, cool and easy to talk to as Sara starts hanging around with a bunch of dorks from the Honors College, well, the dorks notice. Even though I was hosting all the coolest house parties, Sara never let on that she might like me as anything more than a friend.

Then, in that spring of 2003, Mardi Gras happened. Yeah, Mardi Gras happens every year, and it was going to be the third straight year that I went down to the Big Easy to celebrate it proper with my good friend and New Orleans native Adam. But that year, our new friend Sara decided to tag along.

Somewhere along Bourbon Street, Sara picked up a strand of Superman Mardi Gras beads, by far the coolest beads any of us had seen that year. My own supply of beads was getting light, and I set my sights on Sara's Supermans.

Now in the French Quarter, you can't just give somebody your beads. I asked Sara what she wanted for them. She wanted a kiss.

We talked a lot on that New Orleans trip, and Sara mentioned that her favorite movie was "Almost Famous." Thanks to a nasty movie-buying habit, I happened to have the deluxe, extended, untitled, unrated version of the movie in my DVD collection. I told her she would have to come over and watch it sometime.

That turned into our first date. We soon discovered we shared a lot more than a taste in beads and movies. From our involvement in the newspaper to our shared affinity for foosball and burritos, Sara and I were perfect for each other.

After college, Sara and I kept each other going as we struggled through turbulent careers as young journalists. When Sara decided to attend law school in Ann Arbor, Michigan, it was only natural that I move with her. I knew I couldn't be happy anywhere else.

On the fourth anniversary of the day I asked Sara to be my girlfriend, we took a short drive up to Niagara Falls. After dinner at Hooters and a dip in the hotel pool, I insisted we walk outside for one last look at the thundering water.

Alone with a view of the falls, I pulled a strand of Superman beads from under my shirt. I told Sara she knew what she had to do for them. After she kissed me, I said there was one more thing.

My knee had barely touched the ground when she started saying yes. As I put the ring on her finger, the light on the Horseshoe Falls changed from gold to white.

It's kind of a long story, all filled with beauty and luck, and this is really just the beginning. Thank you for being a part of it.

With love and beads,

Tim