In the spring of 2015 Tracy and her roommate Jess were looking for someone new to rent the extra room they had available. Somehow, through many inquiries and close but not quites, Tracy got Alyssa's name and gave her a call asking if she would be interested in renting the extra room. After Alyssa hung up the phone she turned to her sister Claire and said, "Yeah right, I'm not going to live there. It was some weird lady with a bunch of kids and a lot of other people living in a house." A month later Alyssa packed her bags in San Diego and made the trek to Seattle and ended up moving in with Tracy and Jess.

A year after Alyssa moved in, Tracy moved out to pursue a new opportunity. While it was an exciting adventure for Tracy, Alyssa found she was missing Tracy and her friendship more than she thought she would. During this time, Tracy tried to be intentional in finding time to spend with Alyssa as she missed her new friend. Over the next year Tracy and Alyssa grew closer in their friendship, encouraging each other in their lives and pursuits (Alyssa was focused on work and attending a class through church and Tracy was focused on her work.) They travelled together around the PNW, took a trip to Amsterdam, and spent any extra time they had with each other. The more time they spent together, the closer they grew.

After months of not knowing how to reconcile the feelings they had for each other, Tracy and Alyssa finally revealed to each other how they felt about the other. Then, Alyssa made the first move and kissed Tracy (much to her surprise) and the rest was history. It wasn't always easy navigating their new relationship and explaining to friends and loved ones, but they knew if they were going to do this, they were going to do this for real. And, that would include inviting others in to provide guidance, support and love.

Almost everyday after moving in together Tracy would ask Alyssa to marry her 1/2 joking but 3/4 serious. Finally after a year of living together Tracy decided it was time to ask Alyssa for real to marry her. Tracy and her girls, Bret and Lilly, invited Alyssa out on a family date day. Tracy's and the girls' plan was to take Alyssa up to Smith Tower and propose up there while overlooking the Puget Sound and the Seattle Skyline. Once they got to the tower, they found that the elevator was not operating because of the weather and Tracy had to quickly figure out where to propose. The weather, as always in Seattle in December, was a bit damp and dreary. Tracy could wait for better weather or a different day, but for those who know Tracy, know she isn't very patient and waiting was out of the question. So, she still wanted to go through with the proposal and wanted some kind of view for the big question. After much deliberation in her head and many sideways glances from the girls, Tracy decided on Pike Place Market. Just like in true Seattle fashion, every good spot with a view was busy, the rain was pouring down and Tracy just couldn't find the right place. So instead she led everyone to a sports bar in the market figuring they might as well see how the bowl games were going. Afterall, Clemson was playing. While there, Tracy deliberated about what to do. Bret texted her from across the table asking "what are you going to do?" Tracy replied "Who knows, just be ready." While Alyssa was turned away, Tracy placed a small white box in front of her. When Alyssa turned back toward Tracy, she gasped and jumped at the sight of the box and said "You're not doing this here are you?" Tracy told her, "Well, nothing else is going right, so might as well just open it." With tears in her eyes (not from happiness, but terror and frustration that Tracy would pick a sports bar of all places to propose) Alyssa opened the box. Inside was a red candy ring-pop.

Tracy still wasn't sure where she was going to ask the question and they had celebratory dinner reservations they needed to get to. They finished their drinks and walked out of the bar and miraculously, the rain had stopped and gave way to clear skies. Tracy gave her phone to Bret to capture the moment and said I "think I'm going to do it now." She then guided Alyssa over to the area overlooking the sound and the Seattle Great Wheel and told Alyssa "I know nothing has gone as planned tonight but that's basically been us. I love being spontaneous with you, will you continue on this adventure with me and be my wife?” Alyssa said "YES"!

Little did Tracy know (she may have had an idea), Alyssa had picked out and ordered a ring to propose to Tracy just the day before! Having this time to wait for the ring to arrive gave Alyssa an opportunity to plan the perfect moment to surprise her with it. Since they were already engaged, they had booked an engagement photo shoot and Alyssa couldn’t think of a better moment to present the ring to Tracy and return the question, “Will you be my wife?” The day came for the photoshoot/engagement-take-2 and once again, things did not go as planned. It was superbowl Sunday and started off as a beautiful sunny (but cold) winter day in Seattle. As they prepared for their photos, their photographer called to say that she had just arrived at the shoot location and that it had started SNOWING and was completely fogged in! (This was the first day of Seattle Snowmageddon 2019) The vision of a romantic Seattle skyline backdrop proposal photo was out of the question. Alyssa also had to improvise as they figured out another plan for the photoshoot. They ended up going to the only indoor location they could think of on the spot for a photoshoot, King Street Train Station. Alyssa was oddly possesive of her coat as the ring was safely stored inside the pocket and she did not want Tracy to notice it. But once she took her coat off in the train station and got swept up in posing for the shoot, casually pulling the ring out of her pocket was not an option. Even though the snow had continued to dump and didn't show any signs of stopping, Alyssa suggested they bundle up and take some romantic shots under the lights of Occidental Square (coats would definitley be staying on). Alyssa had filled in the photographer in advance and she too was waiting for this special moment to happen. Finally, with their hair drenched and all feeling gone from their fingers, Alyssa pulled out the box from her pocket and fought against the frozen air to tell Tracy how much she loved her and put a ring on it!