If you ask him... 'Twas the spring of 2021, I checked my phone to see that someone had liked a prompt I had placed on the dating app known as "Hinge." Who would have thought answering a prompt with "Just a cow in a field, no rent, no bills just MOOOOOOO" would have been the line that set me up with my person for life? After several messages exchanged I asked this random stranger to go on a date. We had made plans for me to pick her up at her apartment before going to dinner and ending the night with axe throwing. Typing this out now I have no idea if Hannah was absolutely crazy for accepting a date with a stranger to pick her up at her house and proceeding to go throw axes and just hoping I was not a murderer or if I just indeed had "Rizz." Whatever it was that made her accept this date is most definitely the greatest thing that could ever happen to me. Together we have gone through many crazy adventures. On the first date alone we ran across a man who we thought was serenading someone but turns out was just giving the folks at Craft Axe a mediocre concert, a bachelor party all wearing daisy dukes and cut off flannels, a proposal, as well as a break dancing monkey. A sign of all the beautiful things to come if you ask me. Together we have managed to go to a lifetimes worth of weddings, many fun trips with friends, adopted two dogs, moved in together and grew our two lives into one. The best way to describe how it has felt since fusing our lives together is the way Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana felt on March 18th, 2006 when the hit lead single "Best of Both Worlds" was released--when the world could finally know the two were one. In 2024 I decided to take the next step and ask Hannah to marry me. This process was absolutely tricky as every weekend we had something going on and every time I tried to set something up she would somehow manage to have something going on. After several attempts I finally found a chance to do it. She did end up saying "of course!" If you ask her... We first matched in April of 2021 on the dating app Hinge. I had just joined the app since my roommate at the time was going on dates and encouraged me to do the same. I had always been weary of dating, but thought this might be a good opportunity to challenge myself to become more comfortable building new connections. Joking with my friends I made the plan to see how many dates I could go on that summer, obviously not planning on finding a serious relationship. Cole was the first date I went on, and well, we all know where that ended up going! It was a very memorable first date--filled with watching a stranger get serenaded, witnessing a proposal, getting tangled walking through a bachelor party of 'jorts,' and even a break-dancing monkey. While I didn't know at the time where the connection would go, I knew it was something to stick with--and cancelled the date I had planned for a few days later. We spent around a month getting to know each other, and our friends, before making it an official relationship sometime in May (neither of us can remember the exact date). Through the first two year of our relationship we spent time traveling, celebrating milestones, getting to know each other's families, and unfortunately--navigating a cascade of health complications I was not anticipating. While the first two years of our time together was extremely challenging, Cole was one of the few lights that helped me through so many changes I was unprepared for. After two years, we decided to take a few steps forward and got a puppy, named Willow (and eventually Walnut)! We also decided to move in together the summer of 2023. Cole proposed in April of 2024, and while I knew when it was going to happen...he did manage to surprise me with how (sorry Cole for ruining it 3 times...)! We had this wedding date picked out well before our engagement; it was Cole who first suggested April 24th, 2026. The 5 year anniversary of that very first date!