We met in high school. Eric was two years ahead of me, but we were involved in several of the same clubs: orchestra, theatre, and Speech and Debate. We were never that close, but ran in a lot of the same circles. When the two of us were in college, I was down at IU Bloomington studying Art History and Eric was all the way out in California at Cal Poly for Mechanical Engineering. The time difference between us worked in our favor, as Eric worked late and I was a severe insomniac. This led to us talking all the time over social media, and by the end of the semester, we'd become really close friends. We spent almost all of that winter break together, even going on a "fake date." (I still get teased for not picking up on what was going on.) After a whole year of long-distance friendship, we started dating in December 2018, though neither of us are sure about the exact date. That first year was tough, as we were both still in college and had summer jobs, so our visits were short and infrequent. We talked every day, but only saw each other in-person 11 full days in our first year of dating. Ironically, the Pandemic allowed us to see each other more often. Eric was working in St. Louis and classes were not on campus for me, so I spent a good portion of my senior year taking classes on Zoom from Eric's apartment. After three years of long-distance, Eric took a remote job and moved in with me when I was starting my Art History MA program in Bloomington. In summer 2022, I spent five weeks on an archaeological dig in Italy. When I finished, Eric flew out to Portugal and we spent two weeks traveling. I still haven't let him forget that he missed a golden opportunity to propose on an empty cliffside lookout... at sunset... on my birthday. Two months later, he actually did pop the question at sunset on the beach in Beverly Shores. While October 21st, 2022 was a little earlier that we'd talked about getting engaged, we had always planned to have a long engagement, and this way made sure that my Dad could celebrate with us. I am so grateful that we were able to have that. A lot has happened in the past 3 years since we got engaged: My Dad passed away; We've volunteered together in Nepal, then toured Japan and South Korea; We've moved from Bloomington, then back home, and now we're living in Indianapolis to be more centrally located between family and friends while working remotely. Eric spends his weekends playing music at events across Indy, and I'm performing in a community theatre festival. I'm so excited to see what else the future holds, and can't wait to find out with my best friend at my side. Thank you to all who have been along for the journey so far. We are honored to have each and every one of you there when we get married!