July 11, 2014, a couple met in the one place she swore off ever starting a relationship (a bar) during a time that he pledged to not date at all (first job out of MBA school). She was having dinner with a few friends in Midtown and he was celebrating the completion of his first consulting project at a company happy hour in Buckhead. Neither of them were ready to call it a night and around 10pm they ended up in the same Irish pub. My friends walked in ahead of me, but as I walked in and looked up, I caught the piercing blue eyes of a very tall handsome man. I took a quick right turn to catch up with my friends who were already at the bar in the back, but I didn't make it halfway there when there was a gentle yet confident tap on my shoulder. Having lived in Atlanta for quite some time and gone to school at the University of Georgia, there was no telling who that tap was from, but much to my surprise it was the gentleman who was sitting in the corner of the bar when I walked in. He knew he probably only had a few seconds to make an impression and he said, "I can't explain it, but something told me that I needed to talk with you because you're going to be an important part of my life."

So, needless to say I wanted to see her again! But as luck would have it, I suffered from an acute beverage induced haze the next morning. While flipping through my work notebook, I stumbled across a woman's handwritten note with a phone number - the only problem was that I didn't recall meeting anyone named "Kale." Knowing that I just had to see that girl from the bar again, I texted the number and to my surprise she remembered me....and her name was normal, "Kate." We agreed to meet that following Wednesday for dinner at a restaurant in Buckhead called Bistro Niko. The next three days leading up to the date I was a nervous wreck. I bounced the Do's and Don'ts about dating with some of my work colleagues. Oh the rules! What should I wear? Do we greet shaking hands or hugs? I decided to forgo the playbook and to be myself.... The day of OUR date I looked REALLY good. During a lunch break with a colleague, I picked up a bunch of flowers from Whole Foods. When we got back to the office I Googled the .25 mile route from the office to the restaurant 10+ times to ensure I could tell with military precision that I would be on time for this date. I took an Uber to the restaurant to ensure that by no way would an accident or limited parking delay our encounter. And, getting to the restaurant 30 minutes early I had the wait staff move our table several times to confirm it was the best spot. And as I patiently waited at our table with the flowers prominently displayed, it occurred to me that I wasn't exactly sure I knew who I was looking for - quite possibly a relapse of the beverage induced haze. But then from across the room I saw this beautiful, tall, sleek woman - the mere glimpse of her smile nearly knocked me off my feet. It was one of the best dinners that I'd ever had....and the food was okay.

The morning of Christmas Eve 2016 would be memorable. During our courtship, Kate and I enjoyed a fair amount of getting to know one another by "getting high." From climbing several tall mountains in the western United States (i.e. Mount Whitney 14,505 ft.) to indoor and outdoor rock climbing, we have seen one another at our best and worst (I was probably heavier on the latter). Having seen Kate's strength in a number of these mentally and physically challenging circumstances balanced with her compassion and extreme thoughtfulness, I knew she was the woman whom with I wanted to spend the rest of my life. Also, since the Christmas season is so special to us, I wanted to propose to her during this magical time of year. Nearly every weekend in the months leading up to the day, I met with different jewelry designers to find/create the ring that would embody our incredible love. But the looming question was "how do I ask?" On Christmas Eve morning 2016 while Kate and I were exchanging our presents, I handed her a box "from Santa." Upon opening the box she found a pair of new indoor climbing shoes (as ours were pretty ragged). I asked Kate if she wanted to try out her new shoes at the rock climbing gym before we went to spend Christmas with her family. She agreed. We were having a great time climbing at the gym. After a quick nod to the gym staff, I asked Kate if she wanted to try Route 19 white/black. She agreed. After tying her figure-8 and fisherman's knots, she turned to me and said "On belay?" I nodded, "Belay on." She responded "Climbing?" I confirmed, "Climb on." Kate worked her way up the route, traversing the wall and mastering the hand and foot holds. As she made it to the end of the route, she said "What the heck?" To her surprise there was a carabiner with a picture of us from the top of Mount Whitney and unbeknownst to her, the ring - and at the other end of the rope that she was tethered to was me…on one knee. "Kate, will you marry me?"