Everyone knows that COVID lockdowns defined romance. When we met through Hinge (a dating app) in March 2020, we were so excited about social distancing that we immediately began two months of awkward Zoom dinner dates. Eating salmon on camera was as uncomfortable as it sounds. But hey, it worked! Two months later, we met up for a walk on the South Waterfront and discovered a mutual appreciation for speed walking. The rest is history.

As someone who loves telling a good story, Aaron knew that the engagement had to be both unique and memorable. We were in Belize for a trip to celebrate the end of a long football season (with Aaron on the road for 13 weeks in a row) - unwinding, doing a bit of digital detox, and scuba diving. On the second dive of our first day in Belize, Aaron conspired with the dive master to go to a sandy bottom spot to pop the question. There, 40ft under the ocean, he handed Vy an underwater notepad where he had written "Will you marry me?" While Vy was responding as eloquently as possible with an emphatic "YES!", Aaron pulled out a ring inside a watertight GoPro case. Unfortunately, the safety measures proved to be too safe. Neither Aaron nor the dive master could pry the case open due to the change in pressure. While watching the dive master repeatedly stab the case with a 5-inch blade and worrying that he was about to lose a finger, Aaron had an epiphany that the water pressure was to blame. He took charge of the case, ascended 20ft, and came floating back down with the ring finally free. With the exchange of some scuba "ok" signals, we happily swam off on our first dive trip as an engaged couple. Vy was distracted by her ring the rest of the dive. We knew it was meant to be when about 10min before surfacing, a pair of mating dolphins found us and proceeded to spend the remainder of the dive affectionately swimming with us as a group.