How We Met

Our story began in Altoona PA on March 14, 2018 when we met by total happenchance at Planet Fitness. I was back for my father's funeral and had to clear the entire house to get ready for sale. My cousin Alice was helping me in the evenings and she said "you need to get out for a night because you are working entirely too much and not doing anything else". So we went to Planet Fitness and then her friend asked if she could come work out too as she had just got back from Jamaica on a cruise. She asked me if I cared and I was like "what do I care". And that is the first time we ever met - obviously with no idea of what that by chance meeting was to become!

How It Happened - "The Clock"

So in the days after, myself and my son Ryan and Alice and Heidi went out to grab something to eat. We were discussing how I was having trouble getting rid of my parents' grandfather clock, which Heidi was actually wanting to buy. Ironically, I had one for her! So it was appraised at 4,000 dollars, but the appraiser said if you get 1,000 for it, take it and run because there is no market. I sold it to Heidi for 600 - because I needed to be out from under it. When her family realized how much she paid for it versus how much it was worth, her sister was suspicious and asked if I was just trying to get a date. And it wasn't even anything remotely close to that, as Heidi told them it was because I lived in Arizona and was leaving in two days.

How We Became

The house was going to be ready for sale at the end of April, so I needed to go back. Heidi and I had texted a few times discussing the clock and when my Uncle Harold could let her brother in law in to get it from my parents house, as she needed somewhere to put it for the time being. So I told her I was coming back later that week and she offered to come pick me up at the airport!! So I was like "Sure, why not". And that was the beginning of us as we knew it! And I even took her to a Penguins game as our first date!

The Engagement

So in December of 2018 I concocted a behind the scenes plan to fly back home and Surprise Heidi for Christmas with an even bigger surprise in hand - asking her to marry me! I made up a story if she would please wrap my brothers Christmas gifts and take them to Ryan's house to drop off, but that Ryan was most likely upstairs when she was going to get there and to just come in the house! So I stayed in the kitchen and she walked in and I surprised her clear from Arizona! So on December 21, 2018 - SHE SAID YES! (And this from someone who swore she would never get married!).

The Move To Arizona

After nearly a year, Heidi figured it was time to move out here to Arizona to be with me. Long distance relationships are never easy - but Heidi sought a transfer for her work and left behind all that she ever knew - family, friends, work - so that we could be together. On October 20, 2019 the move to Arizona commenced from Altoona - taking us through WV, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico - stopping along the way to take in all kinds of historic sites. It was such a tough thing for Heidi to do, but she felt at last she had found her true soulmate for life and made the sacrifice.

The Order Of Things

We decided to get married in Scotland to honor my Scottish Ferguson ancestry (and of which I have found now that Heidi has MacEachern and Campbell and Downie blood in her!). We were planning things when COVID-19 turned the entire world upside down, and with it, our order of planning. So instead of getting married first and then buying a house, we flipped it around and decided to build our new house first to ensure we could afford it due to rising costs and interest rates. We moved into our house May 27, 2022 - and Heidi has helped make our house into a home!