How we met
Matt: We met in high school, right away at the start of freshman year in 1997. Amanda and I shared an English class as well as mutual friends. Over the next year, we saw each other at our friends' gatherings and almost every day in class. Then the summer before sophomore year my good friends the Laake twins moved into the Penn district and joined the cross country team, of which Amanda was also a member. Amanda became friends with Eric and Ann as well, and because I spent so much time with them I saw Amanda much more often.Amanda: Things progressed further at the start of sophomore year. It was a few weeks before school started and I was hanging out with Ann at a football game after a cross country meet. She said was waiting for one of her good friends, and to my surprise it was Matt that showed up! We started hanging out a lot more. I attended a picnic in the park with Matt, his family, and some family friends. One time in November he bought me tickets to see the high school play before he even knew if I could attend. I began to really like Matt. Then on November 13, 1998, at a Penn football game, I decided to tell Matt how I felt. I worked up the courage (eventually), over hot chocolate, to say that I liked him. He then asked me out and the rest is history!
The Proposal
Matt: I wanted to propose in a beautiful setting that we could always return to, so I decided it would be the private beach near the condo I stayed in this summer when I worked for Whirlpool. That morning after church in Granger, we drove up to St. Joseph where we had a picnic on the bluff overlooking the lake. It was a beautiful day. After lunch, I sang her a song I had written for the guitar that I had been working on for a long time. She's always wanted me to write her a song, but I'm normally not very good with lyrics, so it took awhile!Amanda: The song that Matt sang was so special and so wonderful. He always said that he would write me a song and remember it so I'd have a song forever. It made me feel so special. After the song we decided to go for a walk on the beach. As we walked in the sand I honestly thought that this day could not get any better! What did I know...
Matt: There are a lot of stones on that beach, and we would always look for neat ones when walking along there. So as we started looking for rocks, I leaned down behind a small boulder with my back to her and slipped the ring box out of my camera case, in which she thought I was carrying my camera. I said, "I found a nice rock over here!" and she took a few steps toward me. I turned around, down on one knee, held up the ring, and asked her to marry me.
Amanda: I knew it would come eventually but that did not make it any easier. I was speechless at first. Then my legs gave out and I clung to Matt and started crying. I probably cried for about a half hour I was so happy!!!!
Matt: She was clearly very surprised, and I was so happy I was able to pull that off! A couple hours later we had some friends come and take photos for us, and later we went back to South Bend to show the family and to make phone calls. The whole day really went perfectly.