After 21 years in the beautiful piedmont of North Carolina, I moved to Silverton, Oregon on a whim in late 2019, to explore the west coast with my cousin, during my gap year before graduate school. I had every intention of moving back east after my adventure. In July of 2020, peak pandemic, Jake and I swiped right on one another with my opening line being, "Hi, do you wanna fall in love?". After a few FaceTimes and many texts out of respect of social distancing, I was dying to meet him. We spent our first date eating pizza and watching New Girl, and have been pretty much inseparable since. Jake being a part of my life inevitably changed my plans. I decided to go to Occupational Therapy school in Oregon. I now say "go Beavs" on the streets, exclusively eat Tillamook cheese, and am pretty much used to the rain. We've built a beautiful life and family with our cats, Winston and Cece, and our dog, Mac.

There wasn't one single moment that I realized I wanted to propose - but rather a collection of all the small things that I have grown to love about Amy. Her kindness not only to me, but to all those around her, her investment in my family and friends, and lastly the way that she has always felt like home. It was a beautiful August day, and I had made dinner reservations at a restaurant in Portland to privately celebrate Amy completing grad school, which was happening the following weekend. What Amy didn’t know was that I had something even more special planned for after dinner. I suggested we stop by a park I had “recently driven past” — Peninsula Park, home to a gorgeous rose garden — where I was planning to propose. Dinner went smoothly, and as we arrived at the park, it was a bit busier than I had expected, but everything else was falling into place. We strolled through the garden for a while until we reached the spot I had picked out. The photographer I had hired discreetly got into position, I got down on one knee, and… Amy said yes!