On a Monday evening in the summer of 2008, we found ourselves on opposing teams during trivia night at a restaurant in our hometown. As the night wore on, and as our teams exchanged some friendly competitive banter, eventually we exchanged phone numbers. And the rest is history: the next weekend, we had our first date at the Corner Room in State College, PA.

We both graduated from Penn State University, Dane in 2012 and Kierstin in 2013. For Kierstin's first two years of college, Dane made the hour-plus drive every weekend to see her at Penn State Altoona. Later, we would travel from Lewistown to State College together nearly every day for our classes at University Park. After Penn State, Kierstin got her first teaching job at home in the Mifflin County School District and Dane started his PhD at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, IL.

The next four years were spent traveling back and forth between Lewistown, where Kierstin was working as a second grade teacher, and Chicago, where Dane was working on his PhD. Eventually, we decided we didn't want to spend so much time apart. So Kierstin found a job teaching fifth grade in the Chicago Public School system and we moved into an apartment together on the north side of the city.

On August 4th, 2018 Dane asked Kierstin to be his wife. Our engagement story: One day, while my Grandpa Walker was hunting, he stopped to carve my Grandma and his initials into a tree. This tree stands between my Aunt Nancy’s property, where Grandma and Grandpa used to live, and my parent’s property. My grandparents passed away 16 years ago, but the tree with their initials still stands and marks a special place in our hearts. On August 4th, Dane took me to this special tree and asked me to be his wife with my Grandma’s 25th anniversary ring. They were happily married for 50 years. We are beyond thrilled to begin our next 50+ years together with my grandparents watching over us.