Millennials have a shared understanding that life peaked the summer of 2016. We were having a blast in college, the music was good, the Cavs won the NBA championship, and Pokémon Go briefly united the world. It's all been downhill since Rajai Davis hit a homer in Game 7 of the World Series and sent the matchup into extras one evening in October 2016, leading to the demise of Cleveland's then-Indi*ns and kicking off a series of unfortunate events. But fast forward a bit, and 2018 turned out to be pretty good after all. Connor moved to Southern California on June 1st, 2018. Then, in August, Claudia returned from a 14-month stay in Germany. He was at a new job, she was having reverse culture shock, and they both needed to make local connections to survive. Enter Tinder. Yes - THAT Tinder. Connor wanted to make friends (at least), or maybe even find his life partner, and Claudia downloaded the app "ironically" after a messy breakup. He was in it for the long haul, and she was NOT (yet, she ended up saying "I love you" first!). We went to a burger joint and a whiskey bar in Downtown Fullerton for our first date on November 27th, 2018. At the end of the night, we went in for a hug. Then we didn't. Then we did. Then we drove our separate ways, thinking about the awkward but endearing goodbye. We had our second date 3 days later. Claudia later came to find out he had already been telling his friends and family back home about her over Thanksgiving break, before they had actually met. He showed them pictures. They loved her Deadpool costume. That was a pretty good sign.

Connor just assumed they were "boyfriend and girlfriend" by early January 2019, but Claudia dared not be so presumptuous, so the night of January 4th, he had to ask her, begrudgingly but with a smile, if she would be his girlfriend. Like a giddy high-schooler, she accepted. We made a spreadsheet. Anyone who knows us already knows this - or isn't surprised. This spreadsheet has every date, trip, and activity we engaged in our first year of dating. It has Yelp links. Charts. Future Plans. Notes. The dates were broken down by category and month. We don't know why we're telling you this. It's just - there is no better way to describe our first year together but by saying that we made a spreadsheet for it. Together. Unironically. We traveled to San Diego, Cleveland, Sequoia NP, and San Francisco that year. We met each other's families and friends. We brewed our own beer and went to a couple concerts. Claudia graduated from college and went to her first NFL, MLS, and MLB games. We baked our first batch of Christmas cookies together and shared our first New Year's Eve kiss.

Picture this: It's January 2020. Claudia started a new job. Everything is looking up. You all know where this is going. When COVID hit, we began spending more and more time together because we felt guilty about going back and forth every couple of days. Weekends at Connor's became a whole week working from home together, sometimes from the blanket fort. When Claudia's lease was up to expire in the summer, it was obvious what would come next. We moved in together July 2020 in the middle of a heatwave and a pandemic, undeterred by the fact that we had not even been able to tour the townhome we had signed up for. Luckily, it was perfect! Whereas COVID made many couples go crazy having to be together 24/7, it came to be the perfect opportunity for us. When it was safe, we began hosting family and friends at our place, firmly establishing our mutual love for planning, organizing, and partying. We also began to travel a ton, and living together gave us a shared home to return to after every trip. We've seen Seattle, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Boston, and Puerto Vallarta (to name a few), and we still feel that bliss of coming back to OUR home, together. Since 2020, we have been able to spend every holiday together, throw parties from the Super Bowl to Halloween, and have a safe haven where we can be together, both through the highs and the lows.

We got engaged on July 3rd, 2022. Our rescue dog, Barley (yes, named in honor of beer), was nervous and new to our little family when we got engaged, and though he's still nervous, he's become a bold and deeply affectionate pup. Since getting engaged we did start saving for the wedding, but still managed to add Miami, Charlotte, 4 NFL games, 3 trips to Vegas, 2 music festivals, and 1 awesome joint bachelor/ette party to our story. We are so excited for the rest of our lives together, and can't wait to celebrate with everyone at the wedding. Thank you for being a part of this chapter!