Matt and Karla met while working at Concordia University Chicago. The debate is still going on regarding who should take credit for the match. Those in the running include Karla’s VP, Matt’s VP and Matt’s younger sister Bethany. We’re thinking a dance off at the wedding would be an excellent way to decide who wins.
But that’s for another day and you still need to hear the rest of the story. Karla found out that Matt was pretty athletic and he’s tall so she recruited him for an intramural volleyball team. The season was going pretty well up until one fateful game. Matt was standing in the front row. Karla was directly behind him. A serve came over above Matt’s head, so clearly it was Karla’s ball. Unfortunately, she couldn’t get there in time so she tried to get under it with her foot (which is a legal move). Even more unfortunately, Karla didn’t get enough underneath the ball for it to achieve the proper height to get over the net. Instead, it made a beeline for Matt’s family jewels.
After he had recovered from the traumatic experience, (only a few months later) Matt finally asked Karla out on their first date. You could say from that point on it was pretty much history. Well, that is until July 31, 2012 rolled around.
On that fateful day, Matt set an unfortunate precedent. It started out like any other day up in the Northwoods. They went out to breakfast with Karla’s parents and headed off to the gun range with Karla’s dad. After the range, Matt and Karla picked up a rental kayak for their camping trip to the Apostle Islands in Lake Superior. Since they had time and it was a beautiful day, they took the kayak out for a spin on a neighboring lake. Getting the kayak off Karla’s Ford Escape (affectionately called Derek) was a piece of cake. However, getting the boat back on Derek was not as simple. This kayak was about 20-30 pounds heavier and one-two feet longer than the kayak they usually rent. Struggling to get the kayak back onto Derek, Matt accidentally dropped the kayak on Karla and pinned her up against Derek. Luckily no tears were shed but a few bumps and bruises were starting to form. They managed to get the kayak on top of Derek and headed back to the lake house to get some ice and Aleve for Karla.
Matt suggested that they head down to the dock to watch the sunset. So, they headed down to the dock. Karla said they take the paddle boat out for a spin. Both are not uncommon activities after dinner in the Northwoods. They grabbed the boat cushions and continued down to the water. As they were walking Matt started asking Karla random questions. He was totally baiting her and Karla didn’t even notice. She answered each question simply and thoughtfully not expecting anything out of the ordinary.
When they approached the dock, Matt asked Karla if the lake house was her favorite spot in the world. She responded yes. Even though she’s traveled abroad and seen many wondrous things, there was always something special about the Northwoods. The lake house held so many wonderful memories that no other place in the world could match. As she was finishing up her response, Matt took the boat cushions from Karla and did a nifty spin move putting the boat cushions in the boat and turning to face Karla on bended knee.
Matt took Karla’s hand and said he wanted to build upon those memories with her and asked her to marry him. Of course Karla said yes.
Hein's in the Water 