A year and a half ago, Jon Deibert met Kristen Cramer at Kunkletown General Store, where Cramer works. It was a quick interaction, ending with Cramer giving Deibert her number.

At first, the two were just friends, as Deibert, a Navy man who is originally from Palmerton, was stationed at Naval Air Station North Island in California at the time.

“I wasn’t sure how things would go,” Deibert said. “So we were just kind of talking and taking it by day.”

Their friendship quickly blossomed into something more, and the two struck up a relationship. About eight months later, Deibert and Cramer decided they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.

“Around Thanksgiving time, I knew that she was going to be the one,” Deibert said. “It was just a feeling I had in my gut.”

After the holidays, Deibert returned to California, but his future with Cramer remained on his mind. He spent the next few weeks planning how he would ask her to marry him, scrolling through Pinterest posts until he found an idea that felt right.

Deibert is a firefighter at Palmerton Municipal Fire Company, as well as Slatington Volunteer Fire Department, so he knew that whatever plan he conceived, his profession would have an influence.

When Deibert came back home two weeks ago, a ring in hand, he “drafted up this whole plan,” where he would write the words “marry me” in red hoses in the garage of the Palmerton Municipal Fire Company Building.

When Deibert executed that plan Wednesday, he got just the answer he was hoping for, and Cramer said yes.

While the couple has yet to set a date, Deibert said they’re looking at the fall of 2020.

“I’m very excited,” Deibert said. “It’s crazy how things can happen so fast, without even having expectations.”