Reception Date - SUMMER 2021

It was January in Spain, 2018 and Annie was working to bring independence to Catalonia and he was the perfect man to entrap into marrying her for US citizenship so she could bring the freedom fight back to America... ok Ok here is what really happened since I was born in So Cal: Two days after Kat, the maid of honor, made Annie make a Match.com profile she matched with a man whose profile seemed almost too good to be true. As she rushed out of the room yelling "How do I swipe on this thing?" and "How is he real?" Kat calmly told her to message him so she wouldn't accidently banish him to the left-swipe eather. She asked him to “tell me one good thing about his day or week.” He masterfully answered that a cute teacher had messaged him. They set up a date for that Friday, and the next weekend after that. She knew she wanted to see him every chance she could get when after their second date at the MoPop museum he sent her a picture he had taken of her gazing admiringly at a first edition of Lord of the Rings as a yes to a third date. The rest is how they say... history.

He had been walking around with the custom made ring on a leather necklace, praying she wouldn’t detect it, or worse, he'd lose it. She did not and he kept it safe. She was in the last throes of graduating her mentees and more than a little preoccupied. This also meant that his repeated entreaties to go on a bike ride were met with “I’m too tired” or “Nope, it's raining” so that the days turned into weeks and still no bike ride. See, he wanted her to want to go on a bike ride and for anyone who knows her this was stretching her normal. But they had bought all the gear, including a top of the line Brooks Saddle, and scoped out flat easy trails she could test his mothers amazing old road bike out on. She was going to go, but wanted to wait for a warm sunny day off. Sunday May 12th, was just that. So as they woke up on Sunday morning he declared that today was the day. After biking down the path to the bike store to purchase a new pair of neon pink gloves they pulled over by the lake and she watched as a pair of ducks, one girl and one boy, snuggled by the shore. He set up a camera to document their first ride. When she turned around to snap the picture, helmet still on, he dropped to his knee and her heart burst with YES! For video go to: https://youtu.be/OOCKspOMVCQ