It started on Tinder… as so many great love stories do. Alec and Loran matched, unmatched, and matched again over the course of about a year before Alec finally convinced Loran to go on a date where they time lapsed the sunset at the park with Mowgli (Alec's dog, who Loran would also fall in love with) and grabbed a pizza dinner at Pie Society. Although Loran had been resistant to dating at the time, she was immediately smitten. I think the only one more smitten than Loran was Honey (Loran's cat). From that day on, the four were inseparable. What started as a swipe turned into a life built together. About six months in, Loran asked Alec if he would move to Flagstaff with her... because when you know, you know. The mountains became their backyard, the trails became their therapy, and Flagstaff became the place where they really became them. Eventually life brought them down to the desert, and what was supposed to be temporary turned into home. They traded Flagstaff pines for Scottsdale sunshine, fell more in love with Arizona than they ever expected, and built a quiet, full life together. They now have two cats named Siggy and Toula and a dog named Watson, who all have the biggest personalities and the most sass. Alec and Loran have created a life of simplicity and peace; slow Sunday mornings making breakfast together, board games where they try their very best not to be too competitive, walking to the movies every weekend (Loran with her popcorn, Alec with his pretzel), and still getting out to the pines to hike whenever they can. It is the kind of steady, loving, ordinary-extraordinary life they wouldn't trade for anything. It is also important to acknowledge that these two have done the hard stuff together. They have been through the kind of seasons that show you who someone really is; through grief, through illness, through uncertainty, through major life transitions. In every one of those seasons, Alec and Loran have shown up for each other just the same, with a commitment to understand each other and love each other no matter what life throws at them. Considering the complex and beautiful life they have already built together, it only made perfect sense that when Alec got down on one knee, it was at their favorite hiking spot in the Flagstaff mountains. A place the two often retreat to, and have brought so many loved ones to share over the years, including those who are no longer here with us. Where better to officially commit to each other than the place where it all began? Alec asking to finish out this crazy journey of life together, Watson by his side, and Loran needing not half a second before saying yes. On November 3rd, 2026 — ten years after that first date in the park — they're making it official, just the two of them at city hall. Intimate, intentional, and exactly their style. Then on November 5th, they're heading to Tulum with some of their favorite people to celebrate a decade of choosing each other. If you're reading this, you're someone who has been part of their story, and that means more than words can say. Relationships are built by the people who show up, who root for you quietly and loudly, who love you through every version of yourself. Alec and Loran are who they are, in part, because of you. Thank you for that