"Hey, neighbor," were the first words Erin spoke to Bill. He moved in months before, but over the winter she didn't get a chance to introduce herself. For the next 6 years, they had friendly neighborhood chats, but nothing more (even though Erin would try to catch a glimpse of Bill out cutting the grass in his tank top when she could!). Things changed around the Spring of 2022 when Fate got tired of waiting on these two to make things happen on their own. That Easter a tree on Erin’s property came crashing down, taking with it some branches on one of Bill’s trees and a few of his fence posts. Erin sent a text to Bill using the neighborhood phone list letting him know that she would take care of it when she got back home in a couple of days. However, when she returned home, she found Bill had already cleaned up all the branches! The two future love birds exchanged text messages here and there over the next several weeks about the fence. One day, Erin’s dad came over to replace the fence posts for her. Bill was outside mowing his lawn (of course!) and stopped to introduce himself to Erin’s dad and offer his help. The topic of motorcycle riding eventually came up as Bill, Erin’s dad, and Erin all ride, and the idea of Erin and Bill taking a ride together was born. A couple of weeks later, while Erin and Bill were talking in the front yard, he offered to go on a ride with her. Erin initially blew it off, but when she had an unexpected free weekend after camping plans with a friend fell through, she decided to take Bill up on his offer. On their first ride together, Erin was a bit rusty and crashed her motorcycle! Thankfully, Erin walked away with nothing more than a few scratches and a bruised ego. The only damage to the motorcycle was a broken mirror. Bill kindly offered to replace the mirror and after some reluctancy to accept Bill’s generosity, Erin finally gave in. Throughout the summer, they took a few more motorcycle rides gradually getting to know each other more. Once the season was coming to an end, they decided to go to dinner at Copper Blue and share stories of some recent out of town trips. They talked for 3 hours and closed the place down! Erin was feeling a little unclear about where things were headed, so the next day she invited Bill over to talk. In 8th grade girl fashion, she told him that she liked him. He said he wanted to build a friendship first and she looked for a rock to crawl under. However, the pair continued to go out of their way to hang out, including hiking, cooking for one another, and attending several holiday events in Milford that fall and winter. By March, they agreed to make it official and began dating. The couple continued to strengthen their bond by riding roller coasters, enjoying delicious meals, and taking trips. On January 19th, 2025, Bill suggested they take a walk down by the Little Miami River for some fresh air and to enjoy the recent snowfall. Bill commented that it was a shame Erin couldn’t collect a rock from this particular hike since everything was covered in snow (it’s a habit of Erin’s to write on a rock the place and date of each hike to keep in a bowl). Bill then surprised Erin by saying, “What about this one?” Erin turned around to see Bill holding a ring he had custom made to celebrate their love of nature and he asked her to marry him. She of course said yes!