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In a tale as old as time, Tarek and Kate met on a dating app. Specifically, Hinge. Kate downloaded the app after realizing it’s hard to meet young people in a small town, especially as an introvert studying for her medical school entrance exam. Tarek downloaded the app as a way to get to know people outside of the Army bubble. Tarek reached out first and almost immediately asked Kate out on a date. Kate liked his confidence but forgot to respond for a few days and almost blew it. Eventually we decided to meet at a Prohibition-themed speakeasy in Raleigh. When we saw each other across the street outside the bar, we had an instant connection. We talked for over 4 hours and had our first kiss that night. Maybe it goes without saying: best first date EVER.

On New Year’s Eve 2019, Tarek got an unexpected call to report for duty at Fort Bragg. We expected he would only be away for a few hours and shared a quick goodbye. Little did we know that Tarek’s call would lead to an almost 5 month deployment to Kuwait in his capacity as a cryptologic linguist in the Army. When Tarek called to explain the situation to Kate, he braced himself for a breakup. When Kate heard the news, she committed to dating long-distance indefinitely. We had known each other for less than two months. Although we were both scared, we knew then that we had a relationship worth fighting for. We missed our planned NYE celebration in Raleigh that year, but thanks to some creative last-minute reshuffling we were able to share the weekend before Tarek’s deployment together in Fayetteville. To take our minds off the stressful circumstances, we ate donuts and watched the Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country about an Oregon cult leader, which in hindsight was a strange choice for a relaxing, romantic evening. Maybe it was the fried food talking, or maybe it was the existential dread of some spiritual Oregonians. We said "I love you" and haven’t looked back since then. And we still haven’t finished that documentary.

As Kate and Tarek made plans to spend the days after Christmas 2021 in Charlottesville, VA, Tarek made his own plans. He wanted to propose at the summit of a hike, both as a way to pay homage to Kate and Tarek’s love of hiking and the outdoors, as well as to provide a stunning backdrop to what he hoped would be an unforgettable moment. So on a cold gray morning they climbed to the top of Humpback Rock in the Applachians. Unfortunately, The summit was far more crowded than Tarek had anticipated, and he felt too shy to pop the question with such a large audience. Fortuitously, he was able to talk Kate into a second hike the next morning, and although it rained as they drove to the trailhead, the clouds parted in time for the moment of truth. Alone atop the impressive rocks at the peak of Blackrock Summit in Shenandoah National Park, Tarek told Kate how much she meant to him, how central she had become in his life, and asked her for the honor of spending the rest of their lives together. And lucky for him, she said yes!