We met on OkCupid (an online dating site) in May 2019, about a month before Emma moved to Virginia. We matched because of our common interests, like climbing, camping, and nerdy stuff. Cary sent the first message, and we texted a bit over the next few weeks. Two days after Emma arrived in Virginia, we met for lunch at Cogans Pizza in Ghent, then we went climbing at Latitude. Cary recalls thinking, when he first saw Emma, "Oh no, she's cute, I'm in trouble." Emma wasn't totally sold yet, but thought at the very least he'd make a good friend. We met at Latitude again the following weekend, for Latitude's first anniversary party - we climbed that morning, went to lunch at an Ethiopian place (a first for Cary!), and then went back to Latitude for the party. Throughout the day we talked about our interests, what we were looking for in dating, and more. It was then that Emma knew she was hooked. We shared our first kiss a week later, on the 4th of July. For Emma's birthday the following weekend, we went on a camping and climbing trip, and officially became a couple. We've been happy together ever since!

We had talked about it before, so Emma knew it was coming, she just didn't know when. We went bikepacking (like backpacking, but with bikes!) at False Cape State Park one weekend in April, and Emma thought maaaaaaybe it would happen then, but after arriving decided it probably wouldn't. We camped on the beach the first night and woke up the next morning to watch the sun rising over the ocean. That afternoon, we went on a bike ride with the group, then returned to the campsite to relax in our hammocks. After everyone else trickled off to go to the beach, Cary got out of his hammock under the guise of putting on long pants because he was cold. Instead, he came around to the side of Emma's hammock and picked the hat that she was using to block the sunlight off her head, and said, "Emma, I have a question I've been meaning to ask you...." Emma didn't believe it was happening and thought surely it was a joke, but then saw the ring. After a beautiful proposal, Emma of course said, "Yes!!"