24th April 2023 - I was on the way back from a game in Vancouver, bored I started having a look on Hinge (romantic I know). I came across a blonde girl who lives close to me and likes to play golf, sign me up. So after a 'Like' and going along with my airport check in, I received a 'Match'.... Bingo.

After a few days of talking Megan decided to set up a date, Breakfast at The Original Pancake House. Keep your Ritz and Glamour, OPH is where it's at, well until its really noisy and Megan has an ear infection so couldn't hear a thing. Granted I am not the easiest to understand at the best of times.

After a successful date we went on our way and continued to talk. 2 days late we decided to grab some drinks at Cowboy Jacks (Again, keep your 5* places), this time more interview style, Harrison Heath my best man and housemate at the time joined us. If you get on together then its green lights.

After a few weeks of talking and hanging out with each other, we went to COV one day, lovely summer day down by the lake. After some drinks and food, I went for it. I asked Megan if she'd like to be my girlfriend and start a relationship. And you guessed it she smiled at me, and said the words ...... !!!! 'no i'm not ready'. Brilliant.

An hour after saying no, Megan took me to meet a part of the family, Conor, Mel, Arlo and Ruby Callahan. Head still a bit in a spin, I just thought this is how they must do it in America. They were amazing with me and welcomed me in like I was part of the family already.

Obviously living in America, my wonderful parents Fred and Christine Barber are not easy access, so when they come into town its for a number of weeks. So after many of discussions and questions from my mum... 'So is Megan your girlfriend?' 'No'. 'So you're not speaking anymore?' 'Yes we talk everyday and see each other a lot'. 'So she's your girlfriend then?'. I have a friend who's a girl, who's not my girlfriend but we are dating, meeting my parents what could go wrong? Nothing that's what.

The 3 of them got on like a house on fire from the off, no awkward stages, just pure fun and happiness. Perfect.

26th May 2023, the amazing Jason and Kareen invited my Mum and Dad, Harrison, Megan and I onto his boat for the day. Sailing around on the lake in the sun with music, drinks and your closest with you, it couldn't get better... or could it. After a lovely day on the boat we met up with Harrisons parents Adrian and Jane Heath down at Baja Haus in Wayzata. Again, I had to introduce Megan to everyone. Friend, someone i'm dating, what do you say? This is where the 'romance' kicks back in.... Megan looks at me and says 'Just call me your girlfriend!' With me replying 'I asked you this last week and you said no!' 'Well I want to be now' Always on the bosses terms, the writing was on the wall from there (only joking love don't kill me).

Finally, we were a couple! Mainly happy to not have them questions everyday from my mum haha

The months after that night just flew by. We did everything. We went to concerts, parties, hikes, weekends away, beer olympics, the lot. I had the task of meeting her family now. The stress through the roof. How are they going to handle my English humor, what if they don't like me? That all flew away when I met her parents, Steve and Sandi Huberty and her brother Tyler. Some of most genuine, welcoming people on the planet, we hit it off straight away. It also helps that they cook amazing food, love sports and can drink with the English! I walked away from that day thinking this is all falling into place perfectly.

I knew if they were related to Megan or friends with her, I would love them. This was so true, I continued to meet all of her family who are just phenomenal people, who I am proud to call family.

Then the friends and 'Kittens' (Don't ask me why, ask them). Every single one of them I love. Meeting all of Megans friends was like i've known them all my life as well. The boyfriends/husbands are now my friends, amazing guys who I can always rely on. We have all shared great memories together and it solidified that Megan was the one for me.

For the Christmas period we went back to England, to show Megan what actual England is all about, (there are other parts of England other than London..) We did start off the trip in Ireland where I met Megan as I flew home a bit earlier.

We stayed in Dublin for Megan's birthday, took her to Johnnie Fox's (Thank you Redders) to enjoy the most amazing food and freshest Guinness. The next day we stayed in a beautiful cabin in the Ireland countryside. We toured around the Ring of Kerry and took in the beautiful sights of Ireland.

You're probably thinking why is Jonathan telling us about Ireland when they were going to England for so long. You just wait.

We flew to England where we were going on a party bus with all my friends in a few days. So after seeing my parents and getting settled down in their house, I reminded Megan that she would probably have to keep her passport out for ID when we go to Liverpool as they may not accept her US Drivers License. 'Oh no, wheres my handbag' Yep, you guessed it. Megan left her handbag on the plane from Dublin to Birmingham. Purse, Passport the lot. We rang, we went down to the airport, nothing. Disaster.

We risked it, as we always do. We went to meet all my friends for the first time. Again, they all got on so well. A lot of drunken memories but memories that will last a life time. Especially Joe Morries, Adam Twigg, Sam Bettley-Smith and Megan singing together in a Beatles Bar.

We had an amazing rest of the trip, showing Megan around England, we visited Manchester Christmas Markets, Liverpool, went to a Wrexham football match, York, then we had a last minute trip the Durham to go and see a certain wedding venue.... then we came back home straight away as we had the task of getting Megan a passport. We were successful and Megan went back to the US as I stayed to celebrate Christmas with my family and friends.

I travelled down to London on the 29th December to fly back to the US. But Megan's passport drama had leaked onto me. Denied getting on the flight as the Club lawyer had not updated my VISA. So as I sat in Heathrow Airport, having my 4th Guinness, Megan facetimes me. 'Why aren't you on your flight yet' I didn't dare tell her i probably wasn't getting on any flight for at least another 3 weeks.

So back up to the parents to ring in New Year with my friends (alongside the tradition of crying with Joe Morris and telling each other we love each other while being drunk). A few weeks later I was back down in London with Sam Bettley-Smith and Harvey Lowe, waiting on my visa to come back to America.

The tears flood again with my parents for the 2nd time and I was off, back to the Land of the Free.

After travelling to England where Megan and I found out our dream wedding venue only had December 13th Friday available (Megan is too superstitious for that,) we decided that our next natural step would be to start our family. Megan had prepped me that our journey may look different than others as she had discovered a few years ago that becoming a Mum would be a harder journey for her. Little did we know, there were other plans for us.

When I’m at work it’s very busy until the afternoon and training is finished, so Megan never calls, we just text here and there. But this morning as I was finishing up my training session and about to head out onto the pitch... Incoming Call: Megan Oh ow.


Hey love are you ok? -J
Erm yeah, I just have to say something but I dont know how to say it, I dont know why I called I dont want to do this over the phone - M
(My 1st thought is shes giving me the bullet and leaving me, packing my bags in my head, but oh no, completely the opposite)
Im pregnant. -M

The shock, the happiness, all the feelings you could imagine we went through on that phone call. I know had to go and train and then I rushed home to see more pregnancy tests than you could imagine, I was surprised there wasnt a worldwide shortage after that day. The tears flowed and flowed, pure joy. We went straight for the blood tests etc and yep sure enough, we were expecting a baby!!

After many scans, it was the day to hear the heartbeat. The nerves were sky high as this is a major part of pregnancy. So as Megan lay there, the doctor pulled out the machine, and there it was. The Heartbeat. Smiles, tears, laughs. We heard our babys 1st heartbeat! The date? The exact date a year on from when we 1st matched on Hinge. One of the best days of our lives.

A few weeks later, we decided to go to Florida for some sun and a babymoon. We had planned to do a gender reveal for ourselves, but we hadn't had the results back so we didn't plan on it. That was until Monday morning 6th May. I asked Megan to just check her account incase they forgot to send an email through. I was right (not often I can say that). The results were in. A quick call to Elise Louwerse to give her the log in details and asking if she would call this cupcake place in Florida to tell them the gender. The butterflies in our stomachs were ridiculous. We headed to the beach for the day, not being able to concentrate on anything else. Showered and changed we headed down and picked up the cupcakes. Took them to a private area of a beach by ourselves and got set up to find out.

Megan set up the tri-pod to record and we bit into the cupcakes.... WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!! More and more tears and hugs. Megan grabbed the phone to check our reaction, to find out she forgot to click record. Typical us haha. But that didn't take away from the amazing feeling we had that we were having a baby girl!!

After months of scans, camping trips, preparing for the arrival of our girl and tears (they were just me when England lost in the EURO Final vs Spain), we were 2 months out from go time.

On the 6th September, Megan had planned for our friend Courtney Gauer to fly in from Colorado and have a maternity photoshoot. I had other plans in mind. After loads of photos in the house, our next stop was a Sunflower field in Andover. Courtney took some beautiful photos of us as the sun was setting, I then had to go to the car because I 'forgot my phone'. A few photos later, I got down on one knee and asked Megan to marry me! In classic Megan and Jonathan style, while Megan was crying and halfway through saying yes she fell backward and I had to catch her! The most perfect setting to ask the love of my life to marry me. We headed to get some food and drinks at a place I had sorted to meet her family and friends to celebrate our engagement!

So after a great start to September, we thought we could fully focus on the next 2 months until we have the arrival of our baby girl. But you didn't think it would be that simple with us did you?

10 days later on the 16th September, I was packing up my bag to come back from an away game in St Louis. Megan and I were talking in the morning about baby names and we really stuck on one we loved. I arrived back in Minnesota and we had a full on baby day. We went paint and furniture shopping to finalise the nursery. We then went to Chipotle to grab some food, where we discussed what needs to be put in the hospital bag and when we should put the baby seat in the car. But thats 2 months away we don't need to do that yet? Yeah, ok.

We went to Target to look at baby clothes and all things baby. When Megan grabs her stomach with a 'cramp' which could be normal at this stage in the pregnancy, and also if anyone has had Chipotle its very common as well.

Once we got home I took Lander out for a walk. Once I came back through the door I heard them famous words... 'MY WATER HAS BROKE'. Panic Stations. I run up the stairs to see Megan in tears. It can't be happening now can it? We laughed and that no. Then, 10 minutes later as we were getting ready for bed. Yes, yes it could be happening. The hospital bag went out the window, I grabbed a Kindle, Megan's glasses and a blanket. I don't know why I grabbed the Kindle either.

Straight to the hospital we go. Tests come back that the water has broke, but no labour. Phew. The problem now though was Megan was not allowed to leave the hospital floor until the baby was born. That could be 2 months! Another scan that night and everything looked fine. We settled into our hospital room and tried to get some sleep.

Awoke at 8am for another scan, we then went back to our room where we were told. 'The nurses will be round sometime today, it'll probably be this evening, that's a good sign because if they come in earlier that means there's a problem' Before the sentence was finished, the nurses came in. Oh no.

To save the details, it was go time. Then, at 9:41am, 17th September 2024 at 4lbs 12oz. Scarlett Elizabeth Barber was born. The greatest gift life ever gave us.

Scarlett had to stay in the NICU for a month afterwards, but she was an absolute warrior and on 13th October, we finally went home as a family together for the 1st time.

Seeing Megan deal with this month, showed me how much of an amazing women she is, and she is most certainly the person I want to spend my life with and call her my Wife forever.