Long ago in the before COVID times, a freshly minted PhD scientist was sighted by a slightly inebriated graduate student walking down the stairs at a mutual friend’s party. He overheard her talking to somebody about her research involving nerve agent antidotes, and he worked up the courage to hit her with the killer pick-up line “Nerve agents? I make those.” It was an instant connection - synapses were firing - and from there an incredibly nerdy relationship was born.

Our first day in Prague. After our walking tour of Prague castle Michael suggested we eat a chimney cake in a nearby park. Little did we know that park was the palace garden of the Czechian parliament. We sat on a bench under a tree and ate our dessert while palace peacocks strutted around us. Michael sat there anxiously, telling Erin to “Hurry up and finish your damn ice cream.” Once she finally finished, he pulled out the ring which he’d carried all the way from Baltimore and made his move. There were squeals, there were tears, there were “Finally!”s. Erin had been waiting the whole trip on pins and needles and furtive eyebrows. We grabbed a nearby British couple and asked them to take the picture you see above!