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Full Steam Ahead

Feb 14, 2023

As the relationship progressed, Pam and Dave began feeling more and more certain of their feelings for each other. 

Both were in their mid-20s. They’d had boyfriends, girlfriends. By now, they knew what they were looking for. 

About a month after that first date, on a chilly December night, Dave made the first mention of the couple spending the rest of their lives together. 

They had just finished their dinner, when he — subtle as ever — asked Pam, “What are you doing for the next 60 years?”

Looking back now, Dave’s a little embarrassed. 

“It sounds like a 1990s romcom, I mean: ‘What are you doing for the next 60 years?’” he says.

But for Pam, that moment meant everything.

“I was so excited because it [meant] he was thinking the same thing I was thinking,” she said. “[And] then we thought, ‘Well is this crazy to be talking about being married [already]?’” 

“We went and talked to both of our parents…and they were like, ‘Oh, let’s start planning the wedding!’” Pam said. “Both sides were really excited.”

Still, the couple wanted to make sure the decision wasn’t too rash. They needed to know that they weren’t simply blinded by love, Dave said.

Regardless of who they asked, however — from their combined seven siblings, to their best friends, to Dave’s roommate — there was only one message: “full steam ahead.”

Everyone else could see it — the love Pam and Dave shared, the marriage they would have, the family they could build  — just as clearly as the couple did.

By the beginning of second semester, the pair was already on the search for an engagement ring.

“We were kind of trying to keep it quiet from people,” Dave said, “so for [the rings,] I had my friend — a jeweler from Fairbury — drive 40 minutes into town to [sneak into] the back of the school for her to try on.”

As soon as Pam had settled on the perfect match, Dave was ready to make things official. 

On January 31, 1998 — less than five months after their first conversation — he got down on one knee. 

Propping up a scrapbook filled with their memories together — a treasure trove of their relationship — he declared his love. 

The craftsmanship was questionable, in Pam’s opinion, but the passion radiating through its pages was too great to ignore.

Dave’s roommate would have to find a new place to live.

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