In the winter of 2016, Alex and Leigh each boarded separate planes. They were headed to the beautiful island of St. Kitts and Nevis, where they would spend the next three years learning to become veterinarians. Leigh was in a fantastic mood. She was ecstatic to start her life in the Caribbean and was looking forward to all of the new people, places, and experiences. Alex on the other hand, was not. He was annoyed, anxious, and really just wanted to be back home. He was determined to keep his head down, avoid making friends, and focus on his studies. Whether it was fate, or just their last names being close together in the alphabet, Alex and Leigh were placed in the same orientation group. The new students were ushered together and led out of the tiny airport. As they sat down in the hot, crowded van which was typical of an island "taxi," Leigh decided to be the first to break the ice. Instead of introducing herself to her peers like a normal human being, she decided to tell a pun. To her horror, no one laughed. It was dead silent in that van. Leigh's heart dropped. Then from the seat beside her came a laugh. It was a short, pity laugh. But it was a laugh all the same. Alex had heard Leigh's joke and thought, "That wasn't very funny, but it at least deserves a chuckle." So he did. With the quiet broken, the rest of the van joined in on the laugh. Leigh's head whipped around and locked eyes with Alex. That was when he knew he was in trouble. Just kidding. But that little pity laugh did open the door for a friendship to form. This quickly and unexpectedly turned into something more. Both Leigh and Alex weren't really interested in a relationship with each other, thinking that it was a bad decision to start something in the volatile environment of vet school. But the attraction was undeniable. Slowly they became closer until they broke down and started dating. It was the best bad decision they ever made. P.S. Unfortunately, we don't remember the pun. Just that it was very, very corny. <3

After 5 years of dating and months waiting for the ring, the time had come and it was burning a hole in Alex's pocket just waiting to be placed on Leigh's finger. The morning of May 16, 2021 had arrived and the proposal was to occur at the "Top of the World" hiking lookout at sunrise. While driving to the scenic location it started to look pretty gloomy. The weather forcast for the last week had said a "light chance of rain" for this Sunday afternoon and the groom wasn't too worried about any mishaps for the morning. After all, this was Orange County, CA where it almost never rained and the dry weather seemed to prevail no matter what. Boy, was he wrong. From the moment that Leigh and Alex stepped out onto the short trail to the lookout point, it was pouring rain... The umbrella was broken, Leigh was getting soaked and cold, and the perfect proposal was slowly slipping away as the clouds and rain blocked the view of the sunrise. Alex did not propose in the rain, but he did pop the question that same morning much to Leigh's surprise. Down on one knee, Alex explained to the love of his life that he had planned a fantastic day of drinking, Dave & Busters, a movie, and finally a dinner by the ocean and he wanted to do all of these things with Leigh as his fiancée. He pulled out the ring and told her he would always love her, encourage her, put her needs first, and continue to strive to be the man she deserves. Yes, the perfect sunrise proposal hadn't happened, but more than anything else, Alex wanted to finally be engaged to the woman of his dreams. A kiss or two and a couple of tears later she said yes! The rest of the day's festivities did turn out as planned even if it was while wearing rain boots in southern California. The adventure continued that day with Leigh and Alex feeling so much love for one another and excitement for the many years to come as husband and wife.