In the age of Internet, it's no surprise that Alex and I met on the dating app, Tinder. But our match didn't catch fire until the Fourth of July, 2018, when we had our first IRL date. A very special date, that went on for hours and ended with fireworks. I wrote about it in my journal at the time: "We talked about music and beer and movies. After popping into every open bar on the street, we were brave enough to go downtown, but we sat in traffic longer than we needed to, distracted by conversation." We had our first kiss on the roof of BB's Jazz, Blues, and Soups (rest in peace!), while hanging with the band and watching the fireworks burst over the arch.

As our relationship grew, we continued to bond over music, beer, and movies. Dancing at country music shows and moshing at punk concerts. Bar hopping with our friends up and down Cherokee street, building memories. Analyzing films, new and old, challenging each other's perspective. We found other things we liked about each other, too. A love of nature, for one. Hiking and camping. Together, we have slept under the stars on mountains in Colorado and West Virginia, by the ocean in Maine, and over 4km deep in a Canadian forest. We've listened to coyotes bark and seen otters swimming only feet away. A shared love of art is another. Whether it's a novel or poem, or Alex's favorite Max Beckmann painting at the SLAM, we became each other's go-to discussion partner. Our relationship grew to reinforce the creative side of one another. I believe that art can convey the truest parts of a person better than anything else, so it's through art that we came to understand each other and our love.

On the day Alex proposed, we awoke in our tent at 2am, with the goal of catching the sunrise at the top of Cadillac Mountain, famous for being the first place to see the sun rise in the continental US (for much of the year, at least). We hiked the trail in the dark, finding bear tracks and seeing a massive buck along the way. At the top, we sat on a rock, shivering in those subalpine temperatures, and waited. We weren't the only ones, and as the sun peeked over the horizon there was a collective gasp of awe. It was a beautiful thing; all of us travelling to this mountain from near or far (over 20 hours drive for us), sacrificing sleep, all to be an early witness of the Earth's most mundane miracle. Alex passed me the ring like he was passing a note in class. This moment would only be between us. But now we want to share this with our community--with you. I hope you all will do us the honor of being witnesses to our union and joining us afterwards to celebrate and toast to a happy future. - Brie