After meeting two years prior, we reconnected at a friends engagement barbecue in London. Fred was on the grill and I made my way over to say hi and catch up. We bonded over the fact that we were on summer vacation, since we both work with kids. After the barbecue, I left wanting to get to know him more — a feeling that wouldn’t go away. We kept in touch over social media, exchanging messages here and there. Fast forward four months later to the weekend of our friends wedding. We were in Houston, Texas this time and over the course of the weekend we had deep conversations where we realized that we had a lot in common: similar upbringing, work, goals, hobbies, but most importantly, similar spiritual values. Needless to say, when it was time for Fred to go back to London I was hoping he would make the first move to reach out. According to him, he thought about me the whole flight. So, guess who got a message the next morning? I did! He finally asked for my number and we’ve been inseparable ever since!

After months of planning, it was finally December 21st. The day had arrived and the plan was finally in motion, except a few major plans had changed due to the pandemic. Olympia had just arrived and was resting, thinking we had dinner plans later that evening. I told her not to come looking for me, but to shout my name if she needed anything. Meanwhile, I made my way to the living room to setup for the surprise proposal. Three hours later, the room was finally transformed and it was time to get myself ready to ask the big question! I called out to Olympia that our "Uber" was here and led her downstairs to follow me as I "grabbed something from the living room". As we walked past the candle lit entrance into the living room filled with candles, rose petals and pictures hung from balloons, I got on one knee and asked her to marry me! She said yes! And the best part? Her family, who couldn't be there in person due to the pandemic, was watching on zoom!