Aryn and Brice met at work. Wow, that’s not very interesting, is it? Maybe we can jazz it up with a bit of fiction. Aryn is a professional gambler and amateur juggler. Brice is a fighter pilot and an award-winning chef. They met while stopping a bank robbery and spend their free time training exotic animals to drive speed boats. Too interesting? Yeah, you’re probably right. So, the truth it is! Aryn and Brice met at work. They are both engineers. Brice creates and Aryn makes. A true love story, like a Jane Austen novel, but with more math, science, and electrons. Nerds. At work Brice drew both the eye and the ire of Aryn. The eye – We enjoyed each other’s company and developed a mutual respect for each other professionally, and a friendship together personally. We have similar senses of humor and were / still are often in competition for who is the most ridiculous about their dog. The ire – Aryn is responsible for building the parts that Brice designs. Brice quickly learned he had better do his job up to her standards or he’ll face the righteous wrath of a Texas firecracker. So, to sum it up - good humor laced with a respectable level of fear. Solid grounds for a relationship! And relationship we did! We started spending time together outside of the office as part of a drinking club ran by our good friend Casey. Drinking club? That sounds fun! What were we drinking, you might ask? To our Mothers and Grandmothers – Tea. We all got together to drink tea, eat biscuits, and talk about gardening. To everyone else – Beer, mostly. As we spent time together, we grew closer, eventually deciding to pass the first relationship test. Getting the blessing and approval of our dogs – Chewie and June. We met at Lake Wilson, a favorite spot of Junes. We spent the afternoon hiking and making the case to them. We lucked out, quickly receiving their endorsement. Chewie loved Aryn for her sweetness, love of plants and the outdoors, deep interest and knowledge of Whippet facts and features, and a world class knack for napping. June loved Brice for his gullible nature and stealthy tricks to sneak her human food under the radar. Fun fact – her favorite food is meatloaf. We both are so happy and fortunate to have each other, and have built a great life for ourselves over the past four years. Our remarkable families have been so welcoming and warm to us, and we are tremendously grateful to them. We’re often seen going to baseball games, concerts, comedy shows, making epic charcuterie boards, hiking, spending lazy Sunday’s cooking meals for the week, watching movies in our backyard, and genuinely enjoying each other’s company. Sometimes Aryn even laughs at Brice’s jokes. Sometimes.

A few years into the relationship, Brice began considering proposing. A few days into the relationship, Brice’s mom began asking when he would propose to her. And then every time he saw her. Needless to say, Aryn is a hit with Brice’s family. For Christmas, he gifted Aryn with a trip to anywhere in the world she wanted to go. While there’s no foolproof way to guarantee a yes, this seemed to be a slightly better plan than asking her in the living room. While the choice was completely up to her, Brice had been secretly hoping it would be Italy. Don’t tell Aryn, but Brice tried to influence her decision through the mysterious and subtle art of suggestion. Cooking her Italian food. Talking to the dogs in an Italian accent. Randomly pointing at Italy on the map. Asking her directly if we could go to Italy. Subtle indeed. Magicians rarely reveal their secrets. And through pure chance and 100% completely her decision, Aryn independently decided to go to Italy!

Around the same time, Chewie had escaped the yard. Shocking turn of events for a dog who rarely is seen outside of a pile of blankets and literally has a dog bed in every room. To this day, we don’t know why she wanted to go off exploring. Some think she went off chasing a rabbit or squirrel. Others think she had been routinely sneaking out at night to take courses at the community college working on her law degree to free innocent dogs from the local animal shelter. It’s probably that one, to be honest. Unfortunately, we had recently moved to a new neighborhood and Chewie got lost. When Brice noticed she was gone, he frantically called Aryn. She immediately left work, rushed home, and started searching the neighborhood while Brice printed out flyers. After hours of searching, taping up flyers everywhere, and calling every local animal control office, Brice was losing hope. Aryn, however, kept her head held high, used her copious true crime podcast and CSI knowledge to track Chewie through the doorbell cameras of our neighborhood, Facebook posts, word of mouth, and, no kidding, frightened children. She never gave up. She combed every home. Looked on every lawn. Scrubbed every shrub. Searched every perch. Snooped every stoop. She found her lounging in a garage an entire neighborhood away. She saved the day, and saved Brice’s dog, against all odds. This was the moment all uncertainty and anxiety about proposing faded away and Brice knew, with full clarity, that she was the right and perfect person to spend the rest of his life with.

With the trip on the books, and Chewie back in her nooks, Brice began planning the proposal. He picked out a ring. He picked out the place. Piazzale Michelangelo overlooking Florence Italy. Among the best and most spectacular views on the planet. The stage was set! But not before a very unfortunate injury… Brice is the clumsiest person alive. Which probably isn’t all that surprising to you if you know him. It’s a god’s honest miracle he’s lasted this long with his brittle, hollow, bird-like bones that are ready to snap any time he gets distracted and walks into something. (Aryn here, ya’ll – he also scares easily). The story differs based on who is telling it. But Aryn made the tremendous mistake of giving Brice the password to edit this website, so he’ll tell the literal, actual, complete truth. Brice was mowing the lawn in the new house, two weeks before the trip, and had recently purchased a brand-new lawn mower. When mowing around the mailbox, the heavy mower slipped off the curb and Brice heroically leapt into action to save it from harm. If there were any onlookers, they would have been inspired by the selflessness, agility, and speed of Brice’s bold lawn mower saving technique. And somehow, he rolled his ankle, somehow. But Brice was a responsible adult and went to the doctor to get it looked at, treated, and he was rapidly on the mend. (Aryn here again, he didn’t and he wasn’t). Fast forward to Florence. We had an incredible evening the night before on a food tour, and had a lovely morning limping painfully through the city. We took a bus up to the Piazzale Michelangelo, as an increasingly nervous Brice kept checking his backpack to make sure the ring was there. The view made the jaw drop. Impossible to capture with a picture. In every direction, the view was stunning. History, art, mountains, fountains, you name it, it was there for the eyes to feast on. They walked to an overlook and Aryn was in awe. Brice, having practiced kneeling earlier in the day, knew it was impossible with his totally cool and not at all clumsy ankle injury. He had to improvise! He asked Aryn to sit down on a bench to enjoy the view. She, however, was so taken with Florence in its entirety that she wanted to get close to the edge to take it all in. She dashed off to the best spot to have the best view possible. So, Brice suavely hobbled over to her. Tapped her on the shoulder. Tapped again. A few more taps. A few more. She finally turned around, and saw the ring. To Brice’s great relief, she said yes. We found a nice spot to sit down, drink an Aperol Spritz (Aryn’s new favorite drink), and take the moment in. A truly unforgettable moment for the both of us. We had the time of our lives in Italy (totally her idea!), seeing the sites, leaning on the tower at Pisa, Spritz-ing at the colosseum, laughing at our comically awful tour guide at Pompeii, enjoying the view of the Amalfi coast, buying literal crates of olive oil to send home, feeling claustrophobic yet astonished at the Vatican, feasting on mountains of pasta and colossal Florentine steaks, and (Aryn’s favorite), having a mandatory daily gelato snack or three. Together, we have shared many of these ‘times of our lives’. We look forward to so many more. We could not be happier to take this next step in our relationship, and to celebrate it with our closest friends and family.

Maybe, one day, after many happy years of marriage, Aryn will eventually convince Brice to decorate the house more. Or maybe buy a shirt any color other than Blue. Who knows? Miracles do happen. This relationship is proof of that.