Katelyn & Robert - Gunderson's Jewelers
Katelyn & Robert Proposal Story
PROPOSAL DATE:
June 25, 2022

PROPOSAL LOCATION:
Detroit Lakes, MN

PROPOSAL STORY:
BOBBY'S VIEW
I met Kate at a very low point in my life. I had been struggling to get back on my feet after some unfortunate events. My car broke down and the new one I got had transmission trouble. I didn't have a place on my own, so I rented rooms from friends. I had lost my job from the struggle and from being stranded. Despite not having my own place, a reliable vehicle, or a job, which is definitely a deal breaker to most people, Kate gave me a chance and took the initiative to get to know me. She accepted where I was in life, and she looked past all of those flaws and saw me for who I really am on the inside. She wanted to get to know me and understand me, and she took the time and effort to know not just what was on surface, but what was within. I knew then how special she is, how big of a heart she has, and how she looks at people's hearts rather than what's on the outside. She doesn't look down on people or judge, and she always wants to help others. She truly wears her heart on her sleeve, and I can't express enough just how lucky I am that I have found her.

During this difficult and trying time in my life, I wasn't expecting to find something so wonderful, let alone my soulmate. I was just swiping left and right on a dating app out of curiosity really, thinking that no one on there would be looking for something serious, especially with someone who didn't currently have their life together. Most matches I hadn't even responded to, and I didn't even respond to Kate right away. A lot of conversations didn't go very far. No one really wanted to have a meaningful conversation or was looking for the same thing. They didn't have the same interests, beliefs, or the same intent. I didn't want to be the only one making an effort to keep a conversation going, so a lot of conversations just died out.

While scrolling through my matches out of boredom one night I saw Kate, and she seemed oddly familiar—like I just knew her from somewhere. She has expressed this same sense of familiarity, so has my mother, but none of us have ever met before or knew the same people. I reached out to her and sent her a message and it was like magic; we just connected right away and had such deep conversations. We had that spark and just clicked together immediately like it was always meant to be. Sometimes I think of the butterfly effect: If she didn't catch COVID, she may have never had the free time to set up a dating account. It all came together just by a quick swipe of a finger, and she had almost become lost in a pile of matches. It surprises me every day just how the smallest of occurrences led us together like it was kismet.

The connection we share is just out of this world. Everything just seems to line up perfectly, like what we want out of a relationship, what our needs and wants are, and our way of living. Our personalities and mannerisms just match and seem to work together flawlessly. We are both giving people, willing to compromise and make sacrifices for the other. We listen to each other's feelings and thoughts in a nonjudgmental way and just want to understand one another. We both submit to each other, not taking control over the other, and are always putting fault in ourselves while building the other up. I know we can always work through anything that comes our way and talk through everything in a respectful manner. Life challenges can be tough, and there were a lot of obstacles I had to go through to even make my proposal, but it is our story, and it is perfect. It is the perfect symbol of what's to come and how we'd follow each other way down to our deepest low, working through everything that life throws our way. Here is that story.

So, we were going to go tubing but decided to walk along the beach at Detroit Lakes, which was perfect because I don't know if Kate would have wanted to after. The ring was in this big box that wouldn't fit easily in my pocket, so I had to store it in the glove box. Since we were together and parked on a busy street and Kate was driving, she had to climb out the passenger side, so I had no opportunity to get the ring out. I had to make up an excuse to go back to the car and it wasn't going to fit in my front pocket without having a huge bulge, so I put it in my back pocket.

While walking along the beach Kate decided to sit down in the sand and put her feet in the water, so I just stood there awkwardly for a while trying to figure out how to sit with this huge thing in my back pocket, but somehow I made it work. I said what I wanted to say, but slowly because I had to somehow get her to stand up so I could get down on one knee. When I was finally able to get her to stand up, people were walking right by us—little kids with their parents yelling at them to come—so I had to wait for them to pass. Then someone was walking along the beach with a bucket cleaning up all the dead fish, so I had to wait for them to pass too. The smell was just horrid.

When I finally had the opportunity and said her name, the box was stuck in my back pocket and would not come out, so I was fighting with it. Luckily, she thought I was just trying to grab my phone, but when I got down to present the ring, I opened the box upside down. At least I know it wasn't all about the ring since she said yes before seeing it.

As we were holding each other saying sweet loving words to one another and looking into each other's eyes, someone on a bike came through playing "Follow You" by Imagine Dragons. So now that's one of our songs!

As I laid down on the beach with her after the proposal, I got absolutely soaked and got my phone all wet and sandy. As if my trials weren't hard enough, I also had a cold that day, but I just couldn't wait any longer after I had been waiting for months trying to find the perfect ring and waiting for it to come. So, it was really absolutely perfect!!! I just can't get that song out of my head and seeing that very huge smile she had that day with that sparkle in her eyes, and the expression in her voice as she gave thanks to God, saying grace before a great meal at Zorbaz. Those moments will forever be burned deep into my soul and way down in my heart.

THE RING:
Solitaire Engagement Twist Band

WEDDING DATE:
May 13, 2023

WEDDING LOCATION:
Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Moorhead, MN

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