Like many great love stories, ours began with a red rose. At the time, Ethel was living nearly 100 miles away in Richmond, so getting to that first date took a little patience. After about a week of talking, she came up for the weekend to see her family, and I picked her up from her dad’s house around 10:00 p.m. Since it was so late, almost everything was closed, so we did what would become very "us" and picked a random place neither of us had ever been before: Sully's in Old Town Herndon. From the moment we sat down, everything felt natural. I talked almost the entire time, and somehow, Ethel thought I was hilarious. My lame jokes had her laughing nonstop, and even though we were sitting in a bar, it felt like it was just the two of us in the room. Nothing else mattered. After we left, I asked if she wanted to go to McDonald’s since it was one of the only places still open. She shut that idea down right away, but we stayed in the car for a while talking and getting to know each other more before I eventually drove her home. Before she got out of the car, I asked if I could kiss her, and she said yes. That night, everything just felt right, the conversation, the laughter, and our first kiss. I remember texting my friends afterward and telling them I had found the one. From there, we kept talking, kept visiting each other, and before long, we were making the distance work. Ethel came home more often, and I made plenty of trips to Richmond. About a year later, long distance became a thing of the past when I moved to Richmond, and we started building our life together. Since then, we've traveled the world, chased new goals, supported each other through every adventure, and challenged one another to become better. We've built the kind of partnership we both always hoped for—one filled with laughter, love, friendship, and a true sense of home. Somewhere along the way, I realized what I think I already knew from the very beginning: I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Ethel. Planning the proposal wasn't exactly smooth. In fact, it was a bit of a mess. But thanks to our friends and family, we managed to catch her completely by surprise. I had an entire speech prepared, but when the moment finally came, I forgot almost all of it. The only thing I could remember to say was that I loved her before asking the biggest question of my life. She said yes (thank God). And now, here we are, getting ready to celebrate this next chapter in Peru. We chose Peru because I wanted Ethel to have this moment in the place she calls home. But the truth is, wherever we are together, we are home.