In September 2013, Carl decided to join his best friend for a trip to East Lansing to visit a mutual friend, who happened to be Shannon’s roommate. Shannon had heard about Carl earlier in the summer, but didn’t give too much thought about it. Still, when she heard him walking into her apartment that September night, she felt nervous despite not knowing who he was at the time. They had a good time that night, but parted ways without exchanging numbers. They didn’t see each other again until Shannon’s birthday dinner in October, in which Carl took the liberty to invite himself. After knocking back a super strong cocktail, Shannon declared to everyone at the table that she was very interested in dating a mechanical engineer. Well, it turned out that there was a mechanical engineer sitting at their table! 😉 After that night, a wonderful and timeless partnership began to unfold. Carl and Shannon spent the majority of their relationship living far apart from each other. Weekend visits consisted of driving and flying to spend no more than 48 hours together. Carl would tell you that it’s a defining characteristic of the relationship. Finally, in September 2019, they got to close the distance when Shannon moved back to Michigan to put down roots with Carl. In January 2020, Carl got down on one knee in his parents’ home to ask Shannon a very important question. Now, they are heading to the altar!!