Our story started when we both swiped right on each other. Helene liked that Josh was musically inclined, had some handsome pictures with a nice smile, and that when he messaged her, he talked about the song on her profile. Josh liked her general vibe and just how many interesting things she did. After chatting for a bit, realizing we had mutual friends and interests, we quickly met up for a first date at a local brewery in Silver Spring. Josh was cautious about rushing things and taking it one date at a time, but it took Helene a bit longer to decide if Josh could be the one. Luckily for Josh, Helene didn’t just give up on him after our awkward first date. We dated for almost a year before we finally called each other boyfriend/girlfriend. After our Valentine’s Day date, Josh was happy to take Helene to the party at the Cat Cafe, also he surprised her with a dinner reservation at a fancy Italian Restaurant nearby following the party. Shortly after Josh asked if we should “change our relationship status”, and which just wasn’t the question Helene had in mind. Shortly after that we took our first trip together, to New York City. Helene realized just how thoughtful Josh could be. It wasn’t until later that summer though, when we finally became boyfriend/girlfriend when Helene slipped and used the word boyfriend when telling Josh about something that happened with one of her Rover clients. So finally he asked Helene to be his girlfriend. We had a good laugh. We started spending as much time together as we could, as well as time with our families. We went to visit for the holidays, and went with Josh’s parents and brother for their annual Long Beach Island Trip. Also we went to Mexico for Helene’s brother’s 40th birthday. Helene agreed to move in with Josh during the pandemic with a few conditions, like getting a new cat and her stuff mostly went into storage. Josh has a friend who works with Homeward Trails, and it wasn’t long after we started looking that Belle came into our lives. After our first post-pandemic trip to New Orleans, we started looking for, and eventually found a house that could hold all of our things, and allow us to host gatherings for friends and family. We really made our house a home, even as life ramped back up. We regularly attend local theater productions, especially when our friends are involved in them. We love seeing concerts together. And eventually we took our Paris/London trip that was originally planned for May 2020, and added Amsterdam to visit a friend. Josh knows exactly what I like, and he planned a dinner at Restaurant Gordan Ramsay. It was definitely one the best meals either of us ever ate. Later in the fall, we also made a trip to Nashville, because we both were kind of itching to go. Early in 2024, Josh got the dream call to be on Jeopardy. We had to make plans to be in Culver City, CA for the taping without telling anyone what we were doing. As we were prepping for the trip, while we were getting a new suit for Josh at Nordstrom, he wanted us to stop at the fine jewelry counter so her finger could be measured. Helene learned after, that Josh had been meeting up with a jewelry designer in Alexandria. The year went on, we went to our friends’ wedding in St Louis. In August, we went on our trip to Disney World for Helene’s Mom’s 70th Birthday. Josh had made a plan to use a photo op to propose in the Magic Kingdom in front of the castle. Helene was so stressed about getting around with her mom in any sort of timely fashion, that she had Josh cancel the photo op the day before. Josh was resilient, and just pivoted to proposing at the Be Our Guest Restaurant, which is themed as the Beast’s Castle. The cast members went above and beyond to make our evening special. They even took a video while Josh proposed. And Josh got to experience the magic of Disney World.