2020 hit me square in the face like the rest of the world, so while being furloughed from my job, I did what any unemployed person would do and "moved" back in with my parents. For those that don't know, my parents live at our cabin on Grace Lake, so aside from annoying my father, I thought a whole summer spent reading on the dock felt ideal. I quickly became bored and would randomly open up the dating app, Hinge, to pass the time. I would spend time swiping left and right whenever I got bored and had some conversations here and there, but never really committed to anyone or anything. Usually when someone doesn't message you back after a while, they move on, but not this guy named Alex. We sent one back and forth message in May, another in June, another one in July, and finally one in August, and this guy just kept on responding. As I am someone who clearly could not commit to respond on Hinge, I messaged Alex my phone number and said "do with it what you will". One hour later, in came a text that said "funny how you thought I wouldn't text you". A couple weeks of flirty texts later, Alex finally asked me out for drinks at Maynard's (where we took our engagement photos) on a Thursday night. He was being a gentleman and told me he'd pick me up at my house, but in today's day and age, I did not want a random man knowing where I lived, so I told him I'd meet him there. The universe clearly had another plan because my beloved Monte Carlo (RIP) broke down that day and needed to go into the shop, so I had to backtrack and tell Alex that I needed him to come pick me up. As I downed a glass of wine for a little bit of liquid courage, my three roommates made sure to scope him out through the window. After deeming him okay, my roommates sent me off in a stranger's car. Imagine meeting someone for the first time and having to sit next to them in a car?? I appreciated that Alex wanted to make eye contract with me throughout the drive, but I was pretty sure we were about to veer off the road for the entire journey. After we safely made it to Maynard's and took a seat at the outdoor bar, I ordered a Summer Shandy because (first date) and Alex ordered a long island iced tea. My jaw dropped to the floor at that bold choice, but hey to each their own. The conversation flowed, Alex ordered 3 more long islands without food, and we laughed until bar close. We both quickly realized that Alex should not be driving, so we spent the next hour and a half sitting in the parking lot. I don't kiss and tell, but best first date ever :) I felt so comfortable with Alex that I texted him the next day at 9am asking what he was doing that night. We got together for our 2nd date and Alex immediately threw me to the wolves by introducing me to 10 of his guy friends around the bonfire. I would like to think that I thrived that night and that is when Alex knew I was the one. It was either then, when I told him I loved him first, or when my lease was up, instead of moving to New York like planned, I put all of my stuff into a storage unit, unintentionally "moved" into Alex's apartment, and told him he was stuck with me for life. 5 1/2 years later, we have traveled to 10 countries and 18 states together, cried through the pain of no Minnesota sports team championships, shared I love you's, bought our first house, became best friends with each other's best friends, took dressing up for Halloween very seriously, and spent time together growing and learning with each other. Being in love with Alex is such a peaceful love that I didn't know was possible. He supports me, challenges me, takes care of me, honors my love of Harry Styles, and laughs with me. I know it's cliche, but being in love with your best friend and getting to have slumber parties with them every night really is the best. I cannot wait to marry Alex!

Looking back on it, our story begins in what feels like a dystopian world. We “met” on a dating app during the middle of Covid when it wasn’t possible to meet people in person. Leah made the first move, connected to me, and sent the first message. I wasn’t a lady’s man, so I was pretty excited to meet this beautiful girl who wanted to talk to me. Come to find out, she didn’t want to talk to me. The next two months were me double-messaging her, trying to get her to respond. Finally, she replied and gave me her number. As any good sales rep would recognize, I had an opening, and I immediately asked her out to the nicest restaurant I knew… Maynards. She tried to get out of the date several times. Her car broke down, and she wasn’t going to let a stranger pick her up. She didn’t feel great that day. Eventually, I got her to agree, and three long islands later, we were inseparable. Our romance at the start was more of a “throuple” than a couple, except we had eight people in it. Leah’s roommates and their recent significant others were always around. We spent so much time together it felt like a commune. I was actually asked to leave the house by her roommate, Olivia, after spending eight straight days there without leaving… COVID, you know. After a couple of months had gone by, her roommates cornered me when Leah was gone and asked me the tough question. Are you dating yet? Which I responded yes to. When Leah came back, they asked her, and she gave a firm no! Leah would probably say we started dating when we went to Hawaii together, after 6 months of dating. Leah was planning to visit her high school friends out there, and I forced my way into it. Leah’s biggest test was how we travel together, so when I passed that test, she officially believed we could do this. The final part of our journey began when her roommates left the house, leaving Leah without a place to stay. She says she moved into a storage unit, but I remember we needed a U-Haul to get her st*t out of my place. My place was a bachelor pad, so it wasn’t right for us to start our lives together there, and we immediately looked for a place in North Loop or St Louis Park. I ended up getting my way, and we moved into St Louis Park, but we had a friend come with us. The throuple was back, and Elle wasn’t leaving! Well, we grew together in our new house, and we travelled plenty. I made a promise to go on one international and 3 domestic trips a year. In 5 years, we have visited eight different countries and seven states together. We made several memories we will never forget, and started new traditions that we are excited to keep. Coming up on our 4th anniversary, it was time to commit, and I wanted to find a ring just as special as she was. Funny enough, as I went to pull into the parking lot to pick it out, Leah decided to contemplate life, and we had one of our biggest fights. I rethought everything for about 15 minutes and decided, yeah, I still want this. I had the ring for all of a week before asking Rick for permission to marry Leah, and 3 days after that I proposed in Dubrovnik on the Old City Walls