We met in 2019 at the Wednesday night contra dance evening of Princeton Country Dancers. Every week or so, several members of the group would gather after the dance to go out for ice cream and conversation. Knowing we'd see each other there, both of us kept going back regularly, making time mid-week to get to know each other better. When the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly put a stop to regular dance meetings in early 2020, we found ways to keep building our friendship. Books (we quickly found that we both adore Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables") politics (we're passionate about many of the same topics on the left) and current events gave us great excuses to text each other daily. With the outdoors providing one of the only ways to get out of the house, in March 2020 we decided to meet at Duke Farms in Hillsborough NJ to enjoy our shared love of nature. We like to call that day our "zeroth date." We could both tell that we had the spark of something more than friendship. Not long after, Peter asked Alex on our first "real" date: hiking the Delaware & Raritan Canal in early May of 2020. We watched wood ducks taking their first flight and turtles sunning on fallen logs, and knew this was the start of something special. As we hiked together every weekend for about a year, we slowly built a relationship based on shared beliefs and ideals, a love of conversation, and deep affection for one another. As we grew closer, we also became aligned in Christian faith. Our relationship has deepened each of our relationships with God, and our faith has shaped our goals for our life together. We're deeply grateful to Him for the blessing of our love, and to all of the friends who have welcomed us into Christian community. Life during the pandemic brought serious ups and downs in both of our lives, but in the end, we'd only become more certain about our relationship. By August 2021, we knew we wanted to spend our lives together. Peter planned a visit to Duke Farms - where we'd had our "zeroth date" - and proposed to Alex amid flowering orchids, both of us wearing masks. Kind of an iconic moment! Since then, we've been preparing for our future together: meeting one another's families, getting started with house-hunting, and planning a wedding! We can't wait to celebrate the start of our life together, and hope you can be there to share our joyful day!