Erin and Shannon met on what I'm sure they both thought was an inconsequential February evening in 2011. Erin was running errands with a friend, including dropping off some boxes in Shannon's garage. Erin, who was expecting Shannon to be a woman, was surprised to meet a handsome man with dreamy blue eyes. She was slightly more surprised that he was planting tomato starts in his living room using a sled full of dirt.
It took several months of poking and prodding from that same mutual friend to finally get Shannon and Erin out on what they both knew was a date. Before that, there had been elaborate group outgoings and smaller group dinners. Erin even spent a few hours picking beans out on Shannon's farm as a thinly veiled excuse to spend more time with him. But when Shannon found out Erin's birthday was coming up and asked her out to dinner, she final realized that he was actually interested.
The story of their dating life is surprisingly uncomplicated. Shannon found out Erin gets angry when trying to parallel park. Erin found out Shannon hates wet socks. They fell in love.
Last November, Shannon came up to Traverse City the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Erin had gone north to spend the holiday with her family, but Shannon had to stay in Ann Arbor for the Saturday morning Farmers Market. He was jittery and jumpy, and not just because of the coffee he'd had to drink that morning. He hadn't slept all night because he'd been thinking about the great, big question he was going to ask Erin the next day. After the four hour car ride, Erin and Shannon watched the Michigan football game with her parents, and then drove out to Pyramid Point in Leelanau County to watch the sunset. And there, looking out over Lake Michigan, Shannon got down on one knee, said a lot of very nice things, and asked Erin to marry him.
They both laughed. They both cried (a little). They both forgot to take pictures. But it looked something like this.