Just before Halloween 2021, I was in the Red Rock Cafe in Moab, Utah. It was busy, and I had a booth all to myself. Hoai-Nam had ordered a coffee and was looking for a place to sit, but there wasn't an empty table. Seeing her doing this, some random guy called me out for hogging an entire booth to myself and said "why don't you share with him?" We'd never met. She sat down, we started chatting, and, when the cafe closed, walked to the library together. We ended up spending the whole day together, and made loose plans to climb together in Indian Creek, where we were both heading. This is ridiculous, but I remember writing that night that I had thought I had met someone significant in my life; it was just too good of a day, and she was just too special. I think I had a crush more than I was prophetic, and I think now I'm just plain lucky. We stayed in touch after that fall in the desert. I went to Montreal to visit her. We met up again in the New River Gorge, and then moved into a minivan together for four months, and honestly, it was awesome. Our engagement was something we've talked about for half a year or so. Hoai-Nam picked out her ring (thank goodness). In some ways, it doesn't feel like a big change because of the wonderful steadiness of our relationship (we also have a corgi (THE corgi) together, so we were pretty locked in). Like I said, I'm just plain lucky to be loved by Hoai-Nam, married or not. Mostly, we're just excited to get our friends and family together and party. -Nat