Rick & Jodi

The Bride – Jodi

Jodi was born in Kansas City, and lived south of Harrisonville until she was 7 and her family moved to Warsaw.  She graduated from Warsaw High School, and attended Truman State University.  She has worked for Applebee’s for the last 8+ years, and has worked in several locations.  Currently Jodi lives in Warsaw and works at the Clinton Applebee’s.  Jodi also plays the role of mommy to her 2 year old son, Cameron, who currently is reliving his mommy’s boisterous youth, much to the delight of his Grammie.

Jodi enjoys spending quality time with Rick & Cameron, Royals baseball, Chiefs football, tailgating, cheering for KU, baking, hunting, scrapbooking, and spending time with family and friends.

The Groom – Rick

Rick was born in Denver, Colorado, and grew up in Harrisonville after his parents, Richard and Linda, moved there to set up their family practice.  He graduated from Harrisonville High School, and attended Kansas State University and UMKC.  He spent his late teen years and most of his twenties working with Applebee’s as a chef and manager of several locations.  Rick currently lives in Lee’s Summit and works with Homeland Security near his home.

Rick enjoys spending time with Jodi & Cameron, playing and watching sports, immersing himself in his workshop, and spending time with family and friends.

How We Met

It’s actually quite a long history.  We actually went to the same pre-kindergarten and elementary schools, but we were a year apart – we even had the same 1^st grade teacher, Jodi just had Mrs. Graber a year later!  We grew up going to the same church and participating in boy and girl scouts with each other’s siblings.  Then Jodi and her family moved to Warsaw in 1988.

But the coincidences continued, in 2001 Jodi started working at the Applebee’s in Harrisonville, where Rick had just left to go to a different store to be a manager.  When Jodi got promoted to be a manager, we went to countless meetings together over the years until we both finally worked for Applebee’s in Lee’s Summit.  Just at different stores.

Fate was on our side though, Dee (bridesmaid) worked with Rick, and she and Jodi were great friends so they naturally spent a lot of time talking in the office.  So, Jodi and Rick saw a lot of each other in passing, and eventually started talking more and more.  The relationship developed into friendship, until one day when Jodi had an extra Rockfest ticket.  She knew Rick loved rock music also, and asked him if he wanted to go.  He said yes, we call that our first date and the rest is history!

The Proposal

HE Said

It was late in the summer of 2009, I was staring at the photos of Jodi and Cameron that I have posted at my work desk, thinking about why I have them posted there, making me smile and laugh even when sometimes the work day can be so tedious, and I had one of those moments that makes you think, this is the one person that completes me, the one person that makes me want to be a better man, the one person I want to spend the rest of my life with.

From the moment I decided to ask Jodi to marry me, I knew exactly how and where to do it.  Jodi and I share a special love for our Kansas City Chiefs, having been present at countless home games before we were together, and many more since then, the tough part was figuring out how to make all my fantasies about proposing to her a reality.  She’s not quite the type of woman that would like a romantic proposal at some five-star restaurant, but rather the type being surrounded by a sea of excited, angry, and sometimes vulgar, Chiefs fans adorned in her favorite color (red) at Arrowhead Stadium.  That’s our idea of heaven!

After consulting with a few veteran Chiefs Red-Coaters, my Dad and I decided our best course of action was to contact the organization’s public relations department, and make a plea for my request.  My Dad being a season ticket holder since we’ve lived in the Kansas City area gave them a call, and to his surprise, the man helping him on the other line was the man who brought KC Wolf to life, and keeps him racing across the field on his red four-wheeler, Dan Meers.  From then on, Dan (KC Wolf) and I were planning my proposal to Jodi, kicking around ideas on how to make the day as special as possible.

Originally, I didn’t know if it would be best to propose during the 2009 season, or wait another full year to attempt it, but every time I would ponder the idea, staring at their photos on my wall, I knew that sooner was better.

The dreaded ring shopping… Many guys might think that way about it, but not me.  As well as I know Jodi Lane, she’s not a materialistic woman, not covering herself in flashy jewelry, she’s a simple, more reasonable woman, so I had a pretty good idea on what she would like for an engagement ring.  I spent days searching through websites, traveled to more than a dozen jewelry stores, spent weeks speaking with jewelers explaining the image in my mind of the perfect ring for Jodi, and finally found the one ring setting I had been thinking of, and just the right diamond to top it off.  Ring shopping completed!  Now it would have to rest, hidden away in the back of my sock drawer, for weeks until the big day would come.

All my planning was done, KC Wolf and I had met and worked out all the details.  Of all games to pick for proposing to Jodi, I had picked the game against the World Champion Pittsburgh Steelers.  I had fully accepted that the Chiefs would lose horribly against them, but it didn’t matter, it was the best opportunity I was going to have during the season.  Little did I know that this decision would end up rounding out the perfect day!

November 22, 2009…  Jodi and I get all dressed up in our Chiefs gear before heading out to Arrowhead. Pregame was just as it always is, crowded parking, devoted tail-gaters, motivating rock music coming from all directions, but that day there were WAY too many Steelers fans parading their black & yellow everywhere.  I was praying that this game wouldn’t be a blowout by the world champs, and have to deal with a loss and jubilant Steelers fans on a day for which I had planned something so special.

Game time…  Steelers win the toss, and for some ungodly reason, defer the opening possession to the Chiefs, and how does that decision repay them…., with the Chief’s Jamal Charles running the opening kickoff back for a touchdown!  With this I knew that today’s game was going to be something special.

KC Wolf and I had planned the proposal to take place during the first quarter of the game, so until then I was jittery and nervous, always looking over my shoulder to see if he was heading our way.  I kept feeling inside the right-front pocket of my jeans to be sure that I had remembered the ring.  I made up some story to tell Jodi about how I had entered her into a seat upgrade contest for the game, hoping to pull one over on her when the Wolf would run down our aisle holding the huge poster with her name on it.

I think it was sometime midway through the first quarter, after the Steelers had evened the score, when I saw KC Wolf come parading down the aisle holding the sign that I had made.  She seemed a little confused at first, but I think she caught a quick glimpse of the back of the sign, and saw the word “marry”.  She was turning beet red, and repeatedly said “are you kidding me!?, are you kidding me!?”, so I began nudging her towards the aisle, so we could see what he was up to.  Just as we got a few steps above him, he flipped over the sign, revealing the entire message of “Will You Marry Me?” and I got down on my knee, almost in tears, and spoke the words aloud.  Amongst all the crowd cheering for us, and maybe the game too, I’m surprised she could hear what I said, but after uncovering her face from the embarrassment, we hugged tightly, and headed back to our seats, with everyone taking photos and sharing the love and excitement with us along the way.

The proposal had gone perfectly!  Both of us were so happy throughout the remainder of the game, and as the Chiefs sent the Pittsburgh fans home crying in their “terrible  towels”, winning in overtime 27-24, Jodi and I were left with the perfect day that we will remember the rest of our lives.

SHE Said

We were going to the Chiefs/Steelers game, and had gotten settled into our seats when Rick told me about a seat upgrade that he and his dad had registered for at the last game.  I thought it was odd, because I have been to A LOT of Chiefs games, and never once have I seen anyone offering seat upgrade registrations.  But I was checking my fantasy football team updates and texting my family, so I didn’t really pay attention – who wins those things anyway?  I was too worried about my mom and Cameron not making it up to surprise my sister Joni with baby shopping after the game, and wondering whether or not Tom Brady was going to start…

So the game starts, we are jumping for joy all over the place after Charles runs the opening kickoff back for a touchdown.  I remember the next series, Steelers went 3 and out, and had to punt.  We muffed the punt, and then went 3 and out.  Colquitt punted an amazing punt then KC Wolf came running down the aisle next to our seats.

It took me a minute to figure out what was going on, he had a huge poster with my name on it, and tons of people were yelling and cheering.  I looked at Rick, and he was smiling saying maybe I had won the seat upgrade, and we should go check it out.  I looked back at KC Wolf farther down the aisle, and he was turning around, I saw the backside of the poster and made out the word “marry”.  I turned back to Rick and said something like “are you kidding me?”  Karen and Bob, the season ticket holders next to us, had broken out their camera and were pushing me down the aisle to meet KC Wolf.  When I got to the end of the aisle I think KC Wolf hugged me, and then I remember Rick getting down on one knee and asking me to marry him.  I of course said yes, hugged and kissed him, then took a couple of pictures with KC Wolf where my face is as red as my coat!

After all the excitement was over, I told my family and friends via text message that Rick had proposed – but most of them already knew!  It was then I realized how long Rick had been planning this, and how many people were in on it.  Things started clicking in my head – my family wasn’t supposed to come up and surprise my sister in law, they were coming to celebrate our special day; Rick told me the seat upgrade story to try and make it a bigger surprise; and he wouldn’t let me put my arm in his because he was so nervous…  It still amazes me to this day how perfect it was because of how well he planned everything.  A girl couldn’t ask for a better proposal, or game as the Chiefs won in overtime!