On September 15, 2015, Alexander and Madison moved into the FroSoCo dorm at the start of freshman year at Stanford. After saying goodbye to our families, the dorm staff welcomed us to our new lives in a sunny courtyard. Madison invited a group of students from the second floor of the Schiff building to hang out in her room, and Alexander from down the hall—still an avid collector of playing cards to this day—offered a deck so that the group could play a friendly game of Hearts. In April, chatter started up around the dorm about a tradition called Screw Your Roo, where roommates set each other up on a blind date. Alexander and Madison dropped some not-so-subtle hints to their mutual friends. We went on a group date at Shoreline park in Mountain View for some kayaking on the lake, and a week later we made it official with a romantic Mediterranean dinner in Palo Alto.

We traveled back to South Carolina to see Madison’s family on Hilton Head Island for Thanksgiving. It’s important to note here that Alexander and Madison are both night owls by nature. Several weeks before we even left for the trip, Alexander was ADAMANT about going on a sunrise beach walk on the Wednesday before the holiday—and Madison knew something might be up. On that Monday night we sat around the dinner table after eating some takeout Chinese food. Madison opened a fortune cookie that read, “Accept the next proposition you hear.” Fate, it would seem, has a sense of humor. Bright and early Wednesday morning, we packed a few granola bars, a thermos of tea, and a picnic blanket and headed down to the beach. The sunrise was gorgeous, but a rather vicious cloud of sand gnats and hovering dog-walkers were a little distracting. We headed back to the house, both still steeping in suspense. Thursday morning we took a walk to a much more secluded bench by the dunes, and Alexander popped the question. We ended the day grateful, surrounded by loved ones, engaged, and stuffed with delicious food.