Michelle and Ryan first met as classmates their sophomore year at Cal Poly. They saw each other here and there from across the classrooms of the engineering department, until the winter of 2020. COVID hit. The town of San Luis Obispo emptied as students retreated for quarantine, and Michelle and Ryan seemed to be the only two remaining. They began studying together, an activity which required the consumption of many Fatty’s pizzas. During this time, they discovered a shared love of the outdoors. The following summer they spent long, warm days together in the rolling hills surrounding SLO, hiking and backpacking all around California’s central coast. Michelle, of course, had a HUGE crush on Ryan all summer. One night, when they were setting up their tent, Michelle looked up at the sky. “I hope we’ll get to see the stars,” she said. But Ryan wasn’t looking at the stars, and replied, “All I see is you.” Overjoyed to discover their feelings were returned, they began dating on November 7th, 2020. The rest, they claim, is history. Today they enjoy travelling the world together; from backpacking the emerald forests of the Pacific Northwest, to adventuring through the historic avenues of Argentina. And, of course, sharing pizza.

September 22, 2024, sitting together in a late-night restaurant in Chicago, Michelle and Ryan finished off the last of a deep-dish pizza, then strolled the windy city’s colorfully illuminated streets looking for something to do. They stumbled upon a large aluminum ring at the heart of three crisscrossing, busy streets. The two were drawn in. They approached the ring and sat in it, just like they used to the hammock they once shared in their backyard in SLO. The statue’s name was Being Born. They talked as they watched cars glide by in the night, listening to soft playlists escaping rolled-down windows. It was the early morning hours of Michelle’s twenty-sixth birthday. Suddenly, Ryan got off the statue. “Can I ask you a question?” “Anything,” Michelle said. Then Ryan knelt. He asked her to marry him. Michelle began sobbing hysterically and said yes. She recounts this as the happiest day of her life. They shared an electric scooter back to the Airbnb, and on to the rest of their lives together.