The first time we met was at the OU vs Tulsa football game, in the Fall of 2015. We have Hannah Verplank, Joe Summers and Logan Lewis to thank for that! That night, after the football game, we saw each other again at a party and chatted (flirted) for a while before going our separate ways. A month later, during OU/TX weekend, we ran into each other again at the Sig-Ep date party in Dallas. He bought me a drink and we hung out the rest of the night, eventually exchanging numbers. He was under the impression that nothing would come of these interactions, until (drum roll please) I was showing some of my friends his Instagram page the next day and accidentally liked a picture from 16 weeks prior... He then texted me to call me out on it, and the rest is history.
Although, the story really began months prior, in the Summer of 2015, when Garrett Browning put a tiny seed in Grant's head when he told Grant that he should try talking to me- which he never did, but I like to think that had something to do with where we are now!
Our first date was at Blu in Norman on October 28th. Grant was extremely chivalrous and texted me to ask me out. The texts go as follows:
Grant: "Does Blu sound good tonight?"
Callie: "Yeah, that sounds great!"
Grant: "Cool pick you up at 6:30"
Simple and to the point, but clearly it worked!
I remember that day, before our date, going on a walk with Elizabeth Renouard around campus and talking all things dating and about Grant and our imaginable future. Those conversations will always stick with me, maybe even more than the actual date! All I remember was trying not to eat a ton of food and resisting the urge to take a bite of his food.. now I know that he was trying even harder!!
This was the very first picture we took together, just one day after that first date!
Our engagement story is quite comical. Grant and I went ring shopping at the end of July 2020 and so about 6 weeks after that I was starting to anticipate him getting down on one knee. There was a weekend in September where grant asked me if I had any plans one night and when I said no, he said distinctly that we were going to dinner with a group of his friends. I was kind of taken back at his approach of telling me we were going to dinner rather than asking- it wasn't like Grant at all. This made me start to internally question if this was it!! To make it even more questionable, two separate events occurred. My best friend, and now maid of honor, was in town from Denver- clearly because I was getting engaged! And also, Grant texted me that week saying that the diamond store had called and asked him my ring size, which they should have already known, because obviously the ring was already made (it wasn't) and he was trying to throw me off (he wasn't)!! Ended up that our friends wanted us to go to dinner to tell us they were pregnant (we love you Bridger Brown), which Grant already knew, explaining why he was acting odd, the diamond store truly forgot my ring size, and Lauren was not in town because I was getting engaged. I ended the night thinking that there would not be another weekend for him to propose and assumed I was out of luck for the rest of 2020.
Fast forward to our 5th anniversary. Our dating anniversary is October 28th and so we had planned to go out to eat to celebrate; however, enter the October ice storm... We had to cancel our dinner and left our plan to reschedule up in the air. The next week I suggested that we just go that night because I was off work and we would be able to fit it into our conflicting schedules. Grant brushed it off and acted like he wasn't a fan of the idea and that we could just go the next week. Because of all the switching around and how tentative our plans were, I was NOT at all expecting this to be when I got engaged. I had friends at work telling me that he was for sure going to do it at dinner but I was strongly convinced otherwise. I was late getting home that day, my hair was dirty, I threw on some clothes, and even asked Grant if I needed to wear makeup. When we got to Cheever's, the host started walking us back, past the tables, and towards the private room in the back- this is when I realized "holy moly this is happening and I have my hair in a freaking pony tail!" Grant had come that afternoon and set up the private room with candles and flowers so the second I stepped into the room I knew! Grant did not propose until after dinner, making me suffer through so long that I thought it might not even happen. It was hands down the most awkward dinner we have ever had. We all know I am the talker, but I was trying to let Grant lead the conversation so I didn't skip over his time to ask. He told me that google said to wait until after you finish eating because you'll be on your phones the rest of the night. After we finished our meal, while waiting for dessert, Grant got down on one knee and asked me to marry him- I said yes! Our waiter brought us champagne to toast to our future together, and we ate cake to celebrate. Then we were on our phones the rest of the night, as google had said.