In the beginning - Rodd and I met way back in 8th grade at Jones Junior High, where we were in the same cluster and spent the first half of our day together - but I did not notice him and he did not notice me. Although we shared several mutual friends, we didn't ever hang out together.

So, senior year high school rolls around and I transferred into the Physics class he was taking and was invited to sit at the lab table with him, Peter Calaghan, and Tim Schlickman, his group of friends. Everyone at the lab table got along great and we had a lot of fun together. Soon I was invited to hang out with the guys and Rodd and I started spending lots of time together. This lead to a great friendship that eventually lead to him asking me out.

Boyfriend/Girlfriend - Rodd and I started dating in early February although we were not "official" until the last day of our senior year in high school (it's a long story why this did not happen sooner).
On the last day of high school, after our last final, we were walking out of the building together and Rodd all of a sudden decided he had forgotten something and ran back inside. Little did I know that he had ordered flowers to be sent to me by that time so that my name would be announced on the PA system and I would get the flowers before leaving school. Well, the delivery man was late, but Rodd keeps secrets REALLY well. That afternoon we hung out at his house until I had a piano lesson to go to, then I had to pick up my brother Ryan from school. Of course Ryan was not waiting by the door like he was supposed to so I went inside to find him and he told me that they had announced my name and I was supposed to go to the office to pick up whatever it was that they needed to give me. Confused, I walk to the office and the receptionist, who knows everybody at Wahlert told me that someone had sent me the most beautiful purple roses but she figured I had already left for the day and sent them home with one of my good friends.
That evening was also my first day of my new job at Betty Jane IceCream. My friends came into visit me, and of course they had already seen the flowers, and told me they were beautiful and that they had dropped them off at my house. So that night when I got off work, I could not get home fast enough and there they were sitting on the kitchen table - a bouquet of 12 beautiful purple roses, with a note that read: Krystal will you go out with me!
I hurried and changed out of my work clothes and drove out to the pond where everyone was hanging out that night and gave Rodd a huge hug and of course said yes.
Going to college - That summer Rodd and I spent everyday together. We had a great time hanging out with our friends and enjoying each others company, but the time soon came when we moved on to college, he went to the University of Northern Iowa, in Cedar Falls, and I went to Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, IA a distance of four and a half hours . I really wasn't planning on staying in a long distance relationship and I had no intentions of staying with Rodd, but I wasn't ready to end it just yet. Well, obviously things didn't work out the way I thought they would and the thought of not having Rodd in my life was just something I did not want to think about.
The proposal: Fifteen months after Rodd and I started going out, he asked me to marry him on October 1, 2000. That Christmas he surprised me with the ring (he had told me he was saving but would not have enough until summer or fall - which I was ok with, the promise is worth more than the ring). We have a hard time waiting until Christmas to give each other our gifts so on December 22 when I met him at his house he gave me my gift, all wrapped up and we went downstairs to play some games. A good hour or two later Rodd asked me to open the gift, he had to of been dying for me to open it, but I was in no hurry. So we sat on the couch and I unwrapped the paper and he had given me a Peanuts toy piano with Snoopy and Woodstock dancing on the lid to 'Linus and Lucy'. I had seen the piano at the store and was very excited he had given it to me. Being impatient I wanted to set it up right away and see the characters dance. Well Rodd had taped shut the lid over the keys of the piano that needed to be raised to play the music and for the characters to dance. But I could not get the tape off for some reason so I had Rodd do it and inside was the ring, laying over the keys of the piano. I WAS SHOCKED! The ring was and is beautiful. The next day we went and had the ring fitted and I had it back on my finger in time for Christmas to show it off to friends and family.
Future plans: Rodd and I have recently graduated and are ready to start the next chapter of our lives. This summer we will marry and in the fall we will both begin grad school at the University of Northern Iowa in the Department of Education majoring in Performance and Technology Training. We both have jobs working for the College of Education, Rodd as a computer technician and I as a web designer.