We started dating in November of 2015, after having been friends for months. At the beginning of February 2016, I (Kim) left on a preplanned two month trip to East Africa with my best friend, while Zach continued teaching high school math in Kona, took care of our cat, Lilu, and had many dinners with my parents. After I came back, we waited until the semester was finished, and then packed up and moved (with Lilu) to Juneau, Alaska. Zach enjoyed sailing through the summer leaves as a zipline guide, and I alternated between guiding whale watching tours and hiking tours. We flew down to Lincoln, Nebraska in late summer to help his parents move houses and visit with Zach's family and friends. The tourism season in Alaska ends with the summer, so Zach got back in the classroom substitute teaching at an elementary school, while I worked part-time as a vet tech and taught myself how to sew with an Amazon-acquired sewing machine. We moved back to Hawai'i in the spring of 2017 and began our current jobs, as a teacher at Ke Kula 'O 'Ehunuikaimalino, and as a naturalist at Hawai'i Forest and Trail. A few months ago we added to our family when we adopted our dog, Max. Lilu is surprisingly okay with this.

The proposal story actually starts much earlier than May 6, 2018, but I (Kim) had no idea of that at the time. Zach started making plans with my best friend in December of 2017, and roped in a few family members for the surprise. His parents flew in from Lincoln, Nebraska, "just to see us," and during their visit, my brother John and his wife Anne asked us if we could "dress up to take a few promotional photos" at their burgeoning art cafe. I donned my newly made dress and we showed up to find the cafe elegantly decorated with flowers and place settings. We posed with a few of them, pausing when the photographer, Anna, said she needed to change her lens. She retreated a few paces, and Zach began expressing how close he felt to me, how happy he was, and how much excitement and anticipation he was feeling for our future together. We are usually very sweet and complimentary towards each other, so I didn't suspect anything out of the ordinary. Then I noticed his hands were shaking. Only a second after I registered that anomaly, he knelt and proffered the most elegant ring I had ever seen. I would have said yes even if he had been holding a ring twisted out of hay and dog hair.