Kelsie: We met on a dating app in November 2021, a familiar story nowadays. Sam had been begrudgingly convinced by a friend to make a profile after living in Portland for the better part of a year. I was getting burnt out on repeated swipes left. Both of us were about ready to quit altogether. But I switched to a different app hoping for a fresh start, just a day or two after Sam created his profile (and a day or two before he was about to delete it), and he was one of my first matches! Something about our conversation felt different - even if we were just talking about burritos, it felt more natural than any other dating app chat I had had before. When Sam stopped responding for a couple days, I thought about just letting it go, but there was something about Sam I didn't quite want to give up on, so I took a leap and double-texted. A couple weeks later when our schedules finally matched up, we grabbed drinks at a taphouse in Beaverton. We stuck around for a second beer, a sure sign things were going well. There was a group celebrating a birthday nearby who gifted us "happy meal" bags of party favors and candy and even shared their cake with us! That certainly made it a memorable first date. The whole evening felt as natural and stress-free as a first date could be because we quickly found out how much we had in common, and we both felt comfortable sharing slightly embarrassing facts about our nerdy sides. I'll never forget the look on Sam's face when I told him I had binged all of "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" during the pandemic...because he had done the same! As soon as I got home, I immediately texted my friends telling them I had just gone on the best first date ever. I didn't want to get ahead of myself, but I had a strong gut feeling this was going to finally turn into something real. And the rest is history! Turns out that gut feeling was absolutely correct. ----- Sam: Like all good 21st-century love stories, Kelsie’s and mine starts with the line, “We met on a dating app.” Not even Nicholas Sparks could come up with something that romantic. Joking aside, it’s all thanks to a groomsman, Shawn, that I was even on a dating app in the first place. When visiting my new house, Shawn convinced me to download an app because “girls love a guy who owns a house.” While Shawn’s wisdom may not have been 100% accurate, it did lead me to Kelsie, so in a way, he was right. Kelsie loves to tell the story of “double texting” me because I hadn’t responded. My side of the story is I was visiting friends in Denver. In addition to being present in the moment and not on my phone, we were hiking in the Rockies and doing touristy things where I had no service. My plan was to text her once I got back to Portland, but she beat me to it. When she asked if I wanted to meet up, I had a feeling there might be something special here, so I immediately said yes. The first few dates were a blur of nerves and sweaty palms, but I remember how easy it was to talk to her. Her smile, laugh, and excitement over the things she enjoys were infectious. Kelsie is a bit of a nerd, but I could relate because, apparently, I am too. We had both seen every Marvel movie, all the Star Wars content out there, and shared a love for Harry Potter. Even though she’s a Steelers fan, all the pros outweighed this one con, so I decided I wanted to see her more. There are many more stories, but fast forward a few years: it’s June 8, 2024. We finally reached the top of our hike after a 3,000-ft elevation gain over 3 miles, and were the only ones looking over the Columbia River Gorge. I had spent the entire hike thinking about what I wanted to say when we got to the top. I had the ring hidden in my pocket, the words perfect in my head, and I was sweating worse than on our first date. As I got down on one knee to ask Kelsie to marry me, I immediately blacked out and have no clue what I said. Fortunately, in all my stumbling, she understood and said yes!