When Miss Torrie Buehne, the kindergarten teacher was called in front of the school to listen to “a short clip as to why she is so deserving of the Love is the Key Award,” she never expected what came next.
“We were hosting a charity event called Backstoppers (a charity group for fallen first responders),” Torrie told How They Asked. “I have developed a reputation at school for wearing crazy costumes during spirit weeks, so wearing a “normal” hat was out of the question! I chose a plastic red fire hat that had “Buehne” written on the back of it. My dad is a fire chief and my grandpa was as well, so I had my choice of fire helmets! We have school wide assemblies every quarter known as Team Rallies. We had our first quarter Team Rally on this particular Wednesday. At 9 o clock, my kindergartners and I started making our way down to the gym for the rally. As I walked my sweet kiddos into the gym, I had no idea that I was about to receive the surprise of a lifetime.”
Torrie is a teacher at Stanton Elementary School in Fenton, MO. During a gathering, she was asked to sit in the middle of the room, and the video began.
“Hello Stanton,” the principal says in the video’s opening. “We all know here that love is the key. But I wanted to know if our Stanton leaders really knew what that meant, so we set out to ask a few of our Stanton leaders what love means to them.”
“Love means caring” and “Love is helpful,” while another goes deep, saying, “Love is putting someone’s needs before yours.” Of course, being a great teacher, Torrie knew this. She also knew because the man she had met four years ago had taught her as much! She calls him, “quiet, sweet, loving, and painfully shy man with a heart bigger than this world.”
The last student in the montage says, “Love means you’re gonna get married,” and then the video moves to a clip from Disney’s Frozen, in which Anna and Hans sing “Love Is an Open Door.” The song tugged at a heartstring immediately considering it was a song she and her boyfriend had sung together.
By now, students were yelling, “say yes, say yes!” “I was shocked,” she wrote on How He Asked. “It is really all a blur now, but I just remember feeling an overwhelming feeling of joy because I do love my kiddos!” But what really shook her was what came next.
You see, Torrie and her boyfriend Brett had been in a relationship for four years. She had just finished college at the time and the two were now inseparable. But that didn’t mean she expected what was instore that night.
While the couple was adorable, sweet, and compatible, they were still just in a relationship. After four years, they had never taken that next step. They had met on a semi-blind date. Meaning, they had never met before their first date, they had only texted. But their first date was instant chemistry. Even though Brett was incredibly late!
That’s why Torrie was ecstatic to see Brett that night. But when her boyfriend stepped out of the crowd and got down on one knee, she couldn’t contain herself. With him popping the question, the kids all jumped up and down, so excited the moment had finally come.
“I’m not entirely sure what he said, but I grabbed the ring, put it on my finger, and hugged him,’” Buehne said. “Because we had an entire gym filled with 5- to 10-year-olds watching us! A kiss would have been too much!”
“I call my students ‘my kids’ because we are like a little family,” she wrote. “I care so much about them, and the fact that Brett was able to incorporate them into this just completely fills my heart.”
Now that’s a story to make you smile. From the adorable kids so happy for their teacher to the thoughtful fiancé who truly made one woman’s dreams come true.
And finally, Torrie’s ring posted online not long after her engagement. I think this girl was excited! And she should be. She snagged an amazing man who knew just who to involve in order to make her the happiest bride she could be.
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