We met in Northern Michigan in the spring of 2022. Rachel was working seasonally at Camp Arcadia, and Avery was volunteering for the camp's archives department. We attended the same volunteer kickoff celebration, and after the event, Avery stopped by to the cottage where Rachel lived and was hosting a Bacardi fueled game night. She beat him in a rousing game of Uno, and the rest is history.

We awoke in the morning at Rachel's apartment in Roscoe Village, and she was unaware of what was to come in the day ahead. Avery was trying to keep the day's plans and ultimate event a surprise, but had to let some of the details escape when Rachel insisted that they must spend the day driving to Skokie to get her car's emissions test. Having already planned this day and run through every possible outcome in his head, Avery had to shoot that down quickly. We then headed downtown, where the day started with a rooftop brunch, followed by one brutal lap at the Maggie Daly Park skating ribbon, which Avery had intended to not only be good at, but also occupy more than 30 minutes of time. He had to play a long stall game, as he had a photographer waiting in the shadows to catch THE moment. After walking around the park for a while, burning his tongue on bad coffee, and using the restroom (and double checking he had the ring) 12 times, we started towards the lake. He popped the question on the Lakeshore Trail, the water a beautiful blue backdrop for the most important question he has asked in his entire life. As he had hoped and prayed and anticipated, she said yes. We finished our date with a cocktail across the street from the park. Afterwards, we drove out to Rachel's parents' house where the final surprise awaited her. Our families and friends greeted us with a champagne toast, and we rode off into the winter solstice.