our greatest adventure

In Fall 2014, Connor was interested in volunteering at UofL's Office of Study Abroad after his summer in Spain. He met Kimber and was captivated by her eyes and 'powerful stance' (Kimber still questions what that is). Connor sought her out again in an effort to talk more. He realized though, it couldn't happen. He was a junior and she was in graduate school. For 2 years he bided his time. Occasionally he would catch a glimpse of her on campus and awkwardly yell, "Hey Kimber!" She always waved back. May 2016. Kimber thought Connor had finally graduated college and accepted his Facebook friend request. (She has a rule about accepting social media requests from students.) But, psych. He still had one semester to go. The wait continued. January 2017. Connor felt lucky while on a work trip at the Tropicana Casino in Evansville, Indiana and began sending her Snapchats. We have a winner! Kimber responded and they slowly began cultivating a relationship. Their romance has spanned numerous activities: Fire pit and wine nights. Beer festivals. Road trips. Dog parks. Concerts. And even more countries: Iceland. Romania. Belgium. Moldova. Israel. Italy. Hungary. Lithuania. Austria. Germany. England.

Connor, being the most gracious and considerate human to have ever existed, bought Kimber a flight to London, England and a ticket to the Harry Potter Studio Tour to celebrate their 2 year anniversary. Kimber was living in Iasi, Romania at the time completing a Fulbright ETA and she and Connor were doing the whole LDR thing. 5,500 miles long-distance. Kimber boarded the plane two months later and landed in London. She visited The Cauldron, a Harry Potter themed bar, walked the Thames, and took terrible selfies in front of the UK Supreme Court. She excitedly took the Tube, then a train, then a bus to eventually arrive at the HP Studio Tour. As she waited in the lobby, admiring the life-sized dragon hanging from the ceiling, she turned and who did she see? Connor (and his friend Jacob). They had secretly driven from Louisville, KY to Chicago and hopped on a plane. Two hours into the flight the plane malfunctioned. It was supposed to land in NYC for repairs, but was too heavy and had to return to Chicago to burn fuel. Six hours (and some drinks later) they re-boarded the same plane to finally make it to London. Due to the delays, Connor had to adjust his original proposal plan. He proposed halfway through the Studio Tour, directly in front of the Hogwarts Express. It was nerd perfection.