ONCEUPONATINGALL.COM

The official journey toward "The Ingalls" all started on March 8, 2015 when Tom rented kayaks and took me out to an island in the middle of the Tampa Bay in Clearwater, FL. Unbeknownst to me prior to our Florida vacation, Tom was a "level 11" kayaking expert from back in his grade school days. I, on the other hand, was about to jump onto a kayak for the first time in my life. Our friends Sam Turner and Lori Ring were on a kayak next to us at the time. Tom, being of excessive competitive nature, somehow remained extremely calm and encouraging throughout the entire trip despite my less than elegant rowing skills. Now it is very clear that his unwavering patience had much to do with the proposal he had planned at the end of the kayaking adventure. This is just one of the many examples of the occasions in which Tom demonstrated the patience that love sometimes demands, and I could not have said yes to a better offer than spending the rest of my life with this amazing man.