We’re tying the knot!

You could say our love story began in one of the most unlikely places imaginable: the edge of the Salton Sea. It was late June 2022, around 4:30 in the morning, when we first met, bleary-eyed and gearing up for a long, hot field day. Trak’s company had been contracted to build an artificial wetland, and Eva’s company was in charge of all the biology. That meant birds, baby birds, and bird nests everywhere. When Eva first saw Trak, she thought he looked really tired. Meanwhile, Trak couldn’t believe how someone could have that much energy at 4:30 am without caffeine. Despite the less-than-romantic setting (and the ever-present scent of sulfur), sparks flew. Over the next few months, what began as pre-dawn check-ins, buffer staking, and drone flights turned into longer conversations, shared jokes, and a growing connection. Eventually, Trak asked Eva to grab pizza at Brawley’s finest (and only) pizzeria: Inferno. And the rest, as they say, was history… right? Well, not quite. Just three days after that first date, Trak found out he was being relocated to Bend, Oregon in six weeks. (“Thanks for dating me! You’re really cool and I hope you have a great life!”) But Trak kept calling. And Eva kept picking up. By February 2023, they were talking for hours every day. Then Trak asked Eva if she’d fly up for a visit. She said yes, and the night she touched down in Bend, they officially became boyfriend and girlfriend. And then, in May 2023, everything changed. Trak was unexpectedly diagnosed with uveal melanoma, a rare eye cancer. It was scary, uncertain, and not the kind of twist either of them had imagined. But through it all, the long-distance calls, doctor’s appointments, graduate school deadlines, quiet moments, and hard conversations, they stuck together. And they realized: if they could face that, they could face anything. On April 18, 2025, the day before his left eye was removed, Trak asked Eva to marry him. Because even in the face of uncertainty, some things are crystal clear.