On July 4, 2016, Callie went to a Fourth of July party with her friend Amy and her husband Mat. Amy was desperately trying to set Callie up on a date, and asked Mat who she should meet. Mat mentioned Lee, but she was not interested in dating anyone. A few weeks passed when Amy invited Callie to see her and Mat's new home in Connecticut. When Callie arrived, Amy mentioned that they were going out to a local bar and that Lee was going to be there. From then on, Lee and Callie spent nearly every weekend and most days together when he did not have duty or an underway. After the first date on September 16th, 2016, they were inseparable.

It was a brisk 16 degrees in Southern Connecticut when Lee, Callie's sisters & brother in-law Kai wanted to go for a hike nearby. Callie tried to use every excuse in the book not to go on this hike ( she was "too cold", she "wanted to take a nap", or she "wanted to vacuum the house from Bear's hair"). Finally, she agreed to go. 15 minutes into the hike, Lee proposed. Although she never said yes, the answer was obvious based on her excitement and the amount of years she complained about not being engaged!

Right next door to The Towers is the Coast Guard House where they had their first date in September, 2016. This location is especially special to Callie because her grandfather was a well known visitor to its bar and a friend of the owner, and her parents had their wedding reception there in August, 1984.