Disiclaimer: Steven and Cheryl have decided to take turns writing this story. You can decide whether one of us embellished their story or not!

ENJOY!

Steven's view on how it started:

It was a stormy late July afternoon. The wind howeled outside as the rain fell in giant sheets upon the roof. Thunder roared as if the very Earth was crying out in horror.  I sat contemplating my existence. The faint glow of my phone screen the only illumination in the darkness that consumed the world during the storm. With a heavy sigh I logged into my eHarmony account to see if I had been matched with anybody new.  I was surprised to find that there was a person there that I has not seen before.  Though cynical from past experience, I decided to send a quick automated message.  "What's the harm", I thouhgt to myself, "It's just a stupid automated message anyway."  Lightning flashed as I pressed the send button, as if to punctuate my hopelessness at ever being truly happy. 

That's definately, exactly, how our relationship started.  With a press of a button and a whir of the Interwebs, Cheryl was sent a random message asking her three multiple choice questions: how she felt about humor, where would she choose to live, and what she was more afraid of. The last two didn't really matter because; let's be honest you need a certain sense of humor to fit in with Steven.  The crazy thing is, Cheryl actually replied and struck up a web-based conversation. 

Cheryl's view on the first message from Steven, and how they started dating: 

One afternoon while sitting in my parents living room talking to my dad, my phone beeped letting me know I had a notification. After looking to see what application had a notification, I realized it was eHarmony, the dating website I had signed up for two nights before. I nervously opened the application to find a message from Steven. Deciding that I didn't have anything to lose, I responded to his three questions from the "getting to know you" phase , and sent him three of my own. 

Over the next week, we continued to talk through eHarmony's messaging. I learned that Steven loved paintball, board games, and hoped to one day travel to the Maldives. On August 1st, after a week of talking through eHarmony, Steven sent a message with his cell number. We continued to text over the next week, and then Steven asked me out. I turned him down. It was at that point, that Steven learned that I am extremely close to my family, so I woud not be cancelling attending my little cousin's birthday party, just for a first date with him. I apologized, and asked if we could choose another date. 

Steven and I setup a date for the following Friday night, at Putting Edge. I was terribly nervous and showed up more than an hour early. When we finally met and started our game, I learned that while Steven claimed he was shy, he was comfortable enough with me to be silly. So much so, that when he score a hole in one, he proceeded to mount his putter and ride it in circles as a happy dance! After enjoying ourselves at Putting Edge, Steven asked me to grab dinner with him. We arrived at Red Robin at 8pm and proceeded to talk for hours. We finally noticed that they were closing and we had talked without pause for three hours!

From then on, Steven and I were pretty much inseperable! 

Steven's view of how the marriage discussion came about: 

some stuff happened and we dated or something and then....

There came a time after we had been dating for a while when a great hunger came over us.  It was a powerful, primal, hunger that began to gnaw on us from the inside.  The only way to sate it was going to Ale House with some of our closest friends and family, espeically since it was my birthday.  As we filled the gaping holes in our stomachs, the conversation began to turn towards the idea of Cheryl and I getting married.  Aghast at this sudden interrogation I acted quickly to turn the conversation by threatening to propose to Cheryl with a Ring-Pop. Cheryl quickly responded that as long as it was purple, she would be ok with it.  Although the wedding talk ended after that, a seed had been planted in me.  A tiny spark of an idea began to take shape over the coming months. A thought: "What if I actually COULD propose with a pop"; slowly blossomed wihtin me.