We met at the Downtown Aquarium Denver in 2012 - Eric was the Quarantine Aquarist and in charge of caring for the classroom animal collection. Julie began as an intern in the education department there, and was later hired full-time as an educator. We became friends as Eric taught Julie everything her brain would hold about aquarium care, the Nitrogen cycle, and tropical fish. We bonded over a mutual love of Arrested Development, Roger from American Dad, and haunted houses. Apparently, many coworkers were secretly (or not-so-secretly) shipping us, but we were just friends, even when Eric moved to Georgia. Julie once visited Eric after he moved to Georgia; we went to Florida to swim with the manatees and explore the Gulf Coast of Florida and the Georgia Coast. We even met up in New Orleans, with Julie's friend Tamara, to explore. But, again, we stayed friends. However, Julie was convinced that the Georgia Coast was a good place to live, because she took a job there. She went to visit Eric on holidays, even though it was a 5 hour drive. But, again, we were still JUST friends. Eventually, Julie moved up to Atlanta near Eric, and that's when we really started to hang out a lot. People in Julie's life would tease her about Eric; people in Eric's life would tease him about Julie. Eventually, finally, after many hiking trips and horror movies, things fell into place No one was surprised that we fell in love, but there were a lot of "FINALLY"s when we went Facebook Official. While dating, we traveled to Oregon, Colombia, Ireland, North Carolina, and Tennesee. We love to explore nature and new places together, eat food, and veg out. Our relationship survived what felt like long-distance during COVID isolation - in part thanks to watching the entirety of the tv show Bones together in our separate homes. After a year of that, Eric moved in to Julie's house and we adopted Arlo (Sunny is technically Julie's dog, but loves Eric the most of anyone on Earth). Eric chose to propose very secretly - Julie was not sold on the institution of marriage for herself, and never dreamed about it the way a lot of people do. However, as soon as he proposed on that empty little beach in Skibbereen, Ireland, she was 100% on board - a testament to the unconditional love, dedication, and shared sense of adventure that Eric brings. Together, we bring out the best in each other and our future is built on an incredibly solid foundation of support and friendship.

Julie arranged a surprise trip to Ireland with Eric for a Christmas present, but Eric planned a surprise for her as well. There were many picturesque, beautiful locations in Ireland that we loved, but Eric wanted to propose on the beach. At sunset. With no one around. Unfortunately for Eric, they kept running into problems. First, Julie kept avoiding beaches for some unknown reason, even though she LOVES the ocean. Then the beaches were all crowded. Or it was the wrong time of day. Then we went to Skibbereen, after a long day of driving. It's a small town in southern Ireland, and to quote the nice crepes man in Dingle, "Why are you going there? It's so out of the way." But look it up - it was beautiful. Our lodging for the night was in a house on top of a hill looking over the Atlantic Ocean. It was beautiful. We changed into our swimsuits for a sunset swim (and it was summer in Ireland, so that was about 9:30 PM). However, the water was cold and fully of jellies. Julie complained about them, a lot, but Eric managed to convince her to keep exploring the beach area and look for tide pools. Finally, the beach cleared out as Julie was collecting rocks and still complaining about the jellies. Eric tried to get her to "take a selfie" in the waves, and "what if he's proposing?" crossed her mind briefly, immediately followed up by a hearty inner laugh - AS IF! Eric kicked his flipflops off, Julie went to go get them, but he told her not to worry about them and pulled her close to him. At this point, Julie was a little concerned that something was wrong, because he was looking at her so intently and said her name so seriously. Eric saw the dumbfounded deer-in-the-headlights look on her face, and proceeded to get down on one knee. At this point, Julie's ears started ringing and she froze as happiness filled up her heart. Eric's proposal included phrases such as, "We've survived terrible jobs together," "we've raised one beautiful dog, and one a-hole dog," and "will you do me the honor of being my wife?" And Julie was very excited to accept. We recreated the moment at the same beach the next morning, in nicer clothes, thanks to some kind Irish people willing to be impromptu photographers. So now you know how we got to this point in our lives, how in love we are, and how excited to spend our lives together we are.