Valhalla: a place of honor, glory, or happiness: HEAVEN OR, A bar near the Washington State University campus, where their story began. One Saturday night in April of 2017, Alex and Jessica met for a casual night of pool and drinks. Alex, feeling confident, made a bet: the loser of the next match would buy the next round of drinks. Halfway through the match, he sunk the 8-ball early and lost making Jessica the winner. Alex still to this day will argue that it was only a technicality. The semester came to a close, and Alex departed for western Washington without seeing Jessica again. Still, even after only one evening spent together, a small spark had begun to burn. While separated by more than 250 miles, they chatted through the days and nights, finding more and more excuses to talk. After weeks of conversation, Alex invited Jessica to stay the weekend in Sammamish at his childhood home. After some internal debate, she accepted. Still, there was a problem to solve: Jessica was in Pullman, and Alex was in Sammamish, the other side of the state. One of his friends was traveling to meet for the planned evening on the town, but she would have to trust Alex’s character judgment. Jessica took a leap of faith and was well rewarded. She became well-acquainted and well-liked by his parents and his closest friends on what was only their second date. Shortly after Jessica returned to Pullman Alex offered Jessica a car, no charge. Jessica (rightfully so) viewed this level of generosity with extreme suspicion. She had spent less than 72 hours with Alex, and he was willing to give away a perfectly good vehicle. Alex had his reasons though. All she would have to do is pull a dent out of a support pillar and attach a new door. It was their first car repair project together, but it was far from the last. A new semester started, and Alex and Jessica both returned to Pullman. In a stroke of luck, Alex and Jessica had both signed leases at the same apartment complex. They quickly settled into a routine: They would get through their morning classes and meet for lunch. Then, they would get through the afternoon classes, and come back to one apartment. Months came and went. Jessica graciously helped prepare the Sammamish house for sale and helped the family move to Spokane. The car she received from Alex proved invaluable here; it carried the cats from Sammamish to Spokane through the Snoqualmie Pass with the snow pelting the ground. Alex’s final year was here, and they were going to spend it living together in an apartment just outside of campus. They enjoyed their time together, even the boring days when all there was to do was household chores. Alex graduated in May 2019 and moved back to Spokane, WA to find a job, while Jessica finished her studies; she had only one semester left. Jessica kept working diligently and was able to line up a job prior to graduation. The only issue was that the company was in California. She accepted, confident that their relationship would survive the distance. But she wouldn’t have to wait long to come home; the COVID pandemic struck, and Jessica found herself jobless. Undeterred, she packed the apartment and returned to Spokane. After about a year of them living together in Spokane Jessica busted Alex shopping for engagement rings. She would later find out Alex had been hoping to get caught, he had no idea what to get. They then decided to take a weekend getaway to western Washington to look at some rings. It was then that they decided to custom-design Jessica’s ring. Alex sourced and hand-selected the center diamond. 4 Months later when the ring had finally been made Jessica came home to find Alex in the cabins. There were flowers, dozens of candles, and most importantly Alex down on one knee. Jessica obviously said yes, and they picked a date nearly 3 years out. The 21st of September, because of an inside joke between Alex and Jessica about the Earth Wind and Fire song September.