Once upon a time, 15 years ago, a girl named Sarah entered 7th grade at a large public middle school in the middle of Milwaukee, WI. Although her elementary school was public, it was tiny and sheletered, and was one of the only school in the system to offer a 6th grade. Meaning that when seventh grade began, Sarah would have all of the normal middle school anxieties, plus the fact that all other students had been at the school for an entire year.

One of those students was a boy named Tyler. Tyler & Sarah met through the Beta Club, a type of junior national honor society-- "you BETA BELIEVE IT!" was the slogan of one of their shirts (that they both still sport occasionally).

Time went on, Sarah made friends, including Tyler.

In Sarah's 8th grade yearbook, Tyler wrote: Dear Sarah, have a great summer. I used to have a crush on you in 7th grade, I don't anymore."

They went to high school together and they were best friends. She had a boyfriend, he had a few girlfriends. She broke with the boyfriend early senior year, when he told her to get out her 7th grade yearbook this time (which she hadn't looked at since 7th grade).

The inscription? "Sara [yes, spelled wrong], have a great summer, stay cool. Tyler Nichols [with "RHF" in the loop of the y of Tyler"]

"So?" she says, as a-too-cool-for-middle-school-high-school-senior at this point?  
"RHF." he points out.

He makes her complete a hangman (on a napkin, which she still has somewhere) of the letters during English class. It was around this point when she realized what he meant: "r-m-mb-r    h-r   for-v-r".... "remember her forever.").

The love story ends there?

No. Her heart had been broken by her quarterback boyfriend and she wasn't ready yet. They stayed best friends.

She started to realize that maybe she was a little bit in love with him 5 months later.

A month after he had begun dating his what-would-turn-out-to-be-7-year-girlfriend.

A month too late.

They lost touch after high school.

When the girlfriend broke his heart in late 2006, he called Sarah, hoping she would still be there for him.

Of course she was. Although she had a boyfriend for the first months of their rebirth of a friendship, they picked up where they left off, friendwise.

And then, not even a year later, they began to date.

Their first kiss (ever) was at the South Shore Yacht Club (just a few hundred yards from South Shore Park Pavillion where they had had their high school picnic so many years ago) at a charity function put on by high school friends. How fitting.

On July 19, 2009, he took her on a picnic to South Shore Park-- deemed our "I-love-you-versary" by her (they had said I love you for the first time at a friends wedding on July 19 2008). He proposed exactly between the spot where they had first kissed and had celebrated the end of high school together.