Finally!

Finally!

So after two years of dating in Virginia, the New York boy asks the Wisconsin girl to marry him. She's not quite ready so she gives him a

gentle "stiff arm." He knows a good thing when he sees it, so he hangs in there. They spend the next eighteen years together, surviving some tense Packers-Giants games while living in Michigan, Connecticut, and Iowa.

During their recent Christmas break she

saunters over to his easy chair and drapes her arms around his neck. Uh oh, he thinks. "What would you like to do this week, honey?" she asks. "Umm, I dunno," he mumbles, suddenly panicked, "do you want to see a show in

Chicago?" "That sounds nice," she says, "but would you like to get married too?" The air

rushes out of his lungs, followed by a broad smile and more than a few tears.

Nancy Schwantes and Christopher Marks were married in their home near Amana, IA on

January 3, 2014. They never did see that show in Chicago. A honeymoon is planned for the rest of their lives.