Aaron and Alex *almost* didn't swipe right on each other... she thought some of his photos made him seem like a player, and he thought her bio was lackluster. They gave each other a chance anyway (he liked a photo of her laughing, she liked a photo of him with his cat, MR 2) and their first conversation on Bumble was about Aaron's explicit hatred of (foreshadowing) geese. They planned their first date for September 15, 2019, and had brunch at O'Riley's Irish Pub in downtown Pensacola. A few hours in, Aaron's friend, John, texted Aaron to ask him how the date was going; he had to reply that he was still on it. Approximately 13 hours after they started, they shared a chaste kiss goodnight, and the next day, Aaron texted Alex to plan a second *and* third date for later in the week. After that, Aaron and Alex were almost inseparable. Things were going so well, in fact, that on December 15, 2019, she texted the groupchat "Y'all, I'm gonna marry this boy." Aaron moved in with Alex the spring/summer of 2020, and that fall, for their one-year anniversary, they went camping at Cheaha State Park in Alabama, hiking, enjoying the falls, and watching another hiker's dog splish splash in the waterfall pool. Thus, an idea was formed (Alex wanted a dog)! A few seasons later, Aaron and Alex were expecting... a Goose! They originally were interested in a girl dog, but once they were matched up with the "smallest and cuddliest" of the litter, they had to wrack their brains for a good boy-dog name... and the only thing that felt appropriate was a callback to their first-ever conversation. Aaron and Alex (and Goose, and Cleo, and Uzi, and later Nudge, and Screwball) were now an established unit; they held Friendsgiving with both friend groups, split holidays with his family in Florida and hers in Kentucky, and left the apartment to give Goose a backyard, complete with a glass back door for him to leave his nose-prints. On May 4, 2024, Aaron and Alex drove to Oak Mountain State Park and started the hike to King's Chair. After a few minutes of rest at the top, and taking in the mountain view as the other hikers present started leaving to descend the trail, Aaron called Alex's name to "take some photos" with the self-timer function on his camera. Unfortunately, the sun was just too much for him, and he had to reach into his bag to retrieve his sunglasses, but instead he pulled out a small box and got down on one knee to ask Alex if she would marry him! They took a few more photos, wrote in a notebook in the Geocache tied to a nearby tree, and headed back to the parking lot while Aaron spilled the beans on the proposal details, but also had to break the news to Alex that they would not be going to Korean BBQ that night (which he knew would be a devastating blow) because he made them reservations at an upscale steakhouse to celebrate. Once they arrived at the car, they leaned against the trunk with a mini bottle of sparkling rosé (and a Capri Sun) to celebrate privately one more time! Since then, Aaron and Alex have been enjoying being engaged, but they can't wait to get married with all of their friends and family present to celebrate with them!!!