When exactly we first met is a question of interpretation. If you meet someone but don't remember it, does it count?! Our path's crossed in 2016 at orientation day for the UC Davis Viticulture and Enology Master's program - Corinne was Katie's tour guide (and later her teaching assistant, **cat sound**). Did Corinne give the greatest tour of all time? Jury's still out. But her charm was sufficient enough to intrigue bright new student Katie Rouse into a date or two. It was on one of these early dates while discussing our past lives living in Sonoma that we realized we'd actually attended the same cat funeral (a singularly emotional eulogy was given for sweet Muscle Hawk, RIP). It was only attended by 20ish people, so we must have been introduced, but we both had much longer hair and other plans. All that to say: remember, friends, that true love is as much about connection as it is about timing! So after this hilarious revelation and a few more trips to the Wednesday night Davis farmer's Market, we fell totally in love.

The year: 2022. Location: Central Oregon. The weather: snowy at elevation, sunny everywhere The ambiance: green and pine-y. We were on a little vacation hiking and camping our way around the greater Bend area in Oregon. Did Katie know she was going to propose? The plan was loose at best, and she brought rings. But on a sunny afternoon, we headed to the Newberry Caldera - Corinne none-the-wiser to any proposal schemes in the work. We started our hike up to the caldera rim and had to snap on snowshoes midway and got to the top after about an hour - Katie Rouse cool as a goddam cucumber the entire time. Once we reached the top, Corinne went to go stick some beer in the snow to cool off. Well, actually, it was "a beer" - one single beer - which Katie will lament whenever this story gets retold til time immemorial (Corinne thought they would share it!). When she returned, Katie (ever so coolly) said "Rich, I have something I want to speak to you about". It was at that moment she pulled a little box out of her pocket and began to read a part of Andrea Gibson's "Maybe I Need You", one of our favorite poems. After reading the poem, she opened the box and presented Corinne with a ring who then - always an advocate for clear communication - said "So, just to be clear, you are asking me to marry you?" Katie said yes. Corinne said yes. They cried, they smooched, they stared at 8,000ft elevation off into their future together. Back at the campsite they cracked (conveniently already-chilled) champagne and celebrated!