John and Brittany then went on the highly unique first date to the on-campus Starbucks where John sipped coffee and Brittany had a white-hot chocolate; kids temp of course. As they got through the initial question and answer portion of their first official date, Brittany made sure to bring to light the fact that John had been reserving dryers by starting multiple of them prior to the end his wash cycle. She also made sure to let him know that she had been taking advantage of the reserved dryers for her own use.

From that first date came an elementary school style Valentine's Day request: complete with stuffed bears and chocolate in exchange for cuties and a bamboo plant. Many dinner dates, movie nights, and study sessions later came the formal request to enter a courtship. From there came meeting the parents, family vacations together, and all the college shenanigans along the way. Brittany was diagnosed with epilepsy sophomore year of college and with that bitter news came a sweet and cute little Labrador Retriever they named Penelope. Multiple housing changes including Brittany moving in with my family the summer of COVID-19 to complete her course work in Gross Anatomy following the premature exodus from SLU junior year.

As John and Brittany prepared for their undergraduate journey to come to completion, John had another plan in the works. Over winter break John received permission to ask for Brittany’s hand in matrimony from her mother Dawn. During Easter break, he purchased an engagement ring and began a covert operation to keep it under wraps. Luckily for him his mother Theresa had held onto the ring, as Brittany would surely be on the hunt for one, going through sock drawers and looking in closets. Little did Brittany know, but she got to pick her own ring as she had seen pictures of it modeled on the hand of John’s sister Paige. Brittany was very clear on the ring specification, so it did help the boy out some, even his mother looked at a bunch of rocks at the jeweler and didn’t see much of a difference. As the proposal came to a head John made sure to mark the special date on their office calendar. A ring drawn on the calendar with a smiley face in the middle was all that was necessary to throw Brittany off the trail. Her only response was that I don’t look like that.

On the day of their engagement John walked a stressed Brittany (it was also her graduation day and the first time that our families would meet after three years of courtship) up the stairs to their apartment to pop the question. Before John could say anything Brittany of course said yes followed by an inquisitive “why today”. See at the bottom of this page the cringe-worthy cinematic masterpiece of the proposal if you’d like. Once again John loses that ability to find any words when it comes to Brittany.

From thence on Brittany went on to graduate from a master’s Program in Athletic Training before moving back in with her future in-laws in the Paris of the Midwest, Cleveland Ohio. They await a blossoming future together as they prepare to start their new lives together sporting the Wrabel last name. As Brittany says she is beyond excited to become a “Wrabe babe”.