It was a warm night in Fort Lauderdale. I was enjoying my sister's bachelorette party when a stranger approached us, serenading the group to a Back Street Boys song "I Want it That Way". He started dancing with the bride to be and next thing I know she was sending him my way "we're all lesbians, go meet my straight sister". The night continued with hula-hoops and lots of dancing. He went low, I went high. There were fist pumps. We harmonized by accident and went our separate ways. What I thought was just a fun night on the town then continued when I received a text stating he is locked out of where he was staying and needed a place to sleep. My instant answer to letting a stranger sleep in the hotel room was no, but he continued to send me a pathetic sad face sitting outside of an apartment door. My sister said he was a gentleman and felt bad so she let him sleep on the couch. We woke up the next morning, all of our belongings were still there and backstreet boy was still on the couch. We made him coffee and sent him on his way. Two weeks later, he was working in Tampa from West Palm and asked to go on a date. Neither of us realized that date would never end.

We planned a snowboarding trip together in the beginning of 2023. This year, we went to Park City for the first time. Rented a Ski-In Ski-Out condo for 5 days to explore the unfamiliar mountain. Me being a newer snowboarder, TJ spent most of his time teaching me how not to fall. On our first day on the mountain, my body was already beat after the first few hours. I was sore, annoyed, and anxious since we ended up intermediate trails all day because we couldn't find the green (easy) trails. After one of my gracious falls, I crawled to the trail side to get out of the way of incoming ski traffic. TJ could see the defeat on my face. He crawled his way over to me giving a motivational speech, something about how "snowboarding is like relationships, the more practice makes perfect..." I think I stopped understanding what he was saying when I saw him pull a ring from his jacket pocket. On a busy ski day, this just happened to be the only time people weren't around. It was the easiest YES and a perfect way to start our vacation. We're so excited to celebrate this next chapter in our lives with you. See you in Michigan!