A 'swipe right' on Bumble was where it started. In Joe's first picture he was at an Orioles playoff game dressed head to toe as a player (baseball pants, eyeblack, jersey included). Unsure if this meant he was a little weird or just a really good time - I swiped right. A week or so later we had our first date at Smaltimore, a dive bar in Baltimore. We knocked back countless Natty Boh's and from that day forward we saw each other just about every day.

The fact that he was proposing was no surprise - we went to the ring store together to pick out exactly what I wanted. But how he was going to propose - that was the surprise. With a ring purchased in June I figured a proposal was within reach before the end of the year in 2022. I asked if he was going to propose in Italy on our trip to which he said 'No' because he 'didn't want to travel with a ring' because he was scared he'd lose it. And if you know Joe personally - that was a very real possibility and actually pretty likely. He told me he had plans for a weekend in October to do it. I was dumb enough to believe him. On the first full day of our trip in the Italian Dolomites we went hiking through an area called Seceda. As we were getting ready to sit down for a beer and cheese at a rifugio along the way Joe noticed a private lookout point to the mountains ahead. He told me to face the mountains with my arms up for a picture. After a few seconds of silence, I turned around and there he was on a knee. Fooled me.