On move-in day of freshman year of college, Rachel (a friend I had met only 30 minutes before) brought me directly across the hall from my dorm room into her high school friend's brother's room. Ethan, my new neighbor, promptly made one of his classic blunders, blurting out "Hey! I know your name, it's 'Key-ar-uh!'" Don't worry, he made up for it by offering us some homemade brownies his parents had left him. Over the next couple of weeks Ethan and our new friend Matt proceeded to try to set me up with one of the other boys who lived on our floor. Needless to say, that didn't pan out. Ethan and I began to spend more and more time together, giggling in the library and texting during class (sorry, mom and dad)! Leave it to Gen Chem, a notorious pre-med weed out class, to trauma-bond two people so close they end up married.

It was a night in October that I fell for Keara (literally, drunkenly, in a puddle on WashU's campus). Since freshman move-in day, we had been part of the same friend group but I hadn't really gotten to know the goofy, ridiculous person Keara is and she hadn't seen me make an absolute fool out of myself yet. Looking back, I think this weekend was the start of our relationship. About a month later, I asked Keara out and so we went on our first date: to the dining hall. I don't remember what I got but Keara ate most of a pre-packaged refrigerated PB and J and I finished the crust. Badabing badaboom we were dating. My mom told me a year later that she thought I was going to go to college, play video games all the time, and never find a girlfriend. Well Mom, check it out! I'm marrying the baddest bitch around. A brilliant (soon to be) doctor who's hot as frick. I know, I can't believe it either.

Keara designed her engagement ring from start to finish (using a diamond from my grandmother’s ring), and with an upcoming trip to Portugal, I thought it would be nearly impossible to surprise her. Keara is notoriously good at guessing gifts, and I can’t keep a secret—so I knew this would be tough. In order to surprise her, I came up with a ruse: I had the jeweler email us about a fake manufacturing delay. Keara immediately texted her bff Lyrie: “I thought he was going to propose in Portugal but now I have no clue when it will be.” Bingo! Lyrie was obviously in on the whole thing so she texted me and we rejoiced in sweet victory. *What’s up! It’s Keara jumping in for a second — all the above is true. Ethan is truly terrible at keeping a secret from me, and although I admit I did initially fall for the fake delay, the more I thought about it, the more suspicious I became. I just didn’t want to say anything in case the delay was real.* Our trip arrived and my plan was set. I had a photographer booked and a location picked out — a beautiful cliff on the evening we landed. Then disaster struck: our flight was delayed eight hours…and then canceled. So, while Keara and I were waiting for a rebooked flight, I scrambled to reschedule everything. Huge shoutout to Lyrie and our photographer, Andriy, for helping to pull it off. We finally arrived at our hotel the next evening. As we were planning our itinerary for the next day, I tried to convince Keara to go to the cliff for sunset. She pointed out it faced East, plus going there for sunset didn’t make sense with the rest of our plans for the day. Too smart for her own good. So with less than 8 hours notice, I pivoted again: sunrise instead. Andriy agreed. I barely slept, nervous for the big day. I was already running on fumes after our night in JFK followed by our red-eye flight. *Hi, Keara again! idk what he’s complaining about, I slept great.* Proposal morning finally arrived. We woke up at 6AM Portugal time which was 1AM Eastern (well, Keara wakes up, I’d been awake, sweating, for hours). I knew she would've want her nails done and a cute outfit for photos, but her nails weren't painted which was further proof the plan had worked. I’d been so careful to make sure none of her friends suggested she get a manicure pre-trip because that would have tipped her off. Also, our plans had changed a million times—how could I have planned anything? I knew she wouldn’t want to be in hiking clothes in the proposal photos so while we were getting ready, I casually said “Wow, after wearing sweats during our past two travel days, it sure is nice to wear jeans!” Luckily Keara put on a cute top and jorts. *I'm back. Let me just say that not once has anyone ever thought, ‘Boy these jeans sure are comfy!’* On the way to the cliff, Keara kept suggesting other spots to watch sunrise but I insisted on the original one. When we arrived, there was only one other person already there (he’s my stealthy photographer). We didn't exchange words but he texted me: “The light will be best at 7:13am. Propose then.” So I did. I asked Keara to pose on the cliff. I grabbed another “lens” from my bag, dropped to one knee, and looked up expecting shock or tears…instead, Keara was laughing (see the Memory Lane tab for proof). I asked, “Are you surprised?” “Nope,” followed by more laughs. “What?! How? Wait, should I finish my speech?” “Yeah, probably!” Anyway, she said “Yes”. Then “Is that stranger over there a photographer you hired?” ...How does she always know? *Hi hi, Keara one last time. Let it be known that I didn’t get my nails done because I didn’t know when during our trip he’d propose. Also, I knew that he knew that if someone suggested getting my nails done that I’d know for sure he was proposing, therefore no one suggesting it only pointed more to the idea he was going to propose. It’s all quite simple when you think about it. And I don't know why he was so stressed, I was obviously going to say yes!*