At the beginning of his freshman year of college, George spontaneously joined a San Diego road trip with a bunch of U of A students he barely knew (as one does). Amelia sat next to him for the 6-hour drive each way, and they became fast friends. After 11 months of bonding over a shared love of food and travel and FaceTiming every week during that crazy COVID pandemic quarantine phase, the stars finally aligned, and they went on their first date in August of 2020!

We planned a long weekend trip with George's family in Zion National Park to hike Angel's Landing and decided to try our luck entering the day-of lottery to win a permit to hike the famous Wave (a notoriously impossible lottery to win in advance - we've tried for years!) Lo and behold, Shelly was the lucky winner! George was disproportionately excited, but no one thought too much of it. George kept his plans so well-hidden that it wasn't until moments before he dropped to his knee in the middle of such iconic scenery that Amelia suspected there might be something coming. George later mentioned that winning the Wave lottery was just another sign that things happened exactly the way they were meant to be.