Mariah's POV: Our story begins on May 30th, 2018 - the day we matched on Tinder. I was in California on leave from the military (living in Texas) and Kevin was home for the summer from Washington State University. I thought he was the cutest in his pics so I absolutely swiped right. He "slid into the DM's" first, and I don't think we've gone a day without talking since then. On June 29, 2018, we became 'official' before we even met in person and a month later, we were both in San Antonio meeting and spending the best week of our lives (up to that point) together. He was funny, charming, and TALL and I was immediately head over heels. Our long distance and many plane rides lasted through college and the military for about 2.5 years until it finally came to an end when we both ended back in California in December 2020. We went from 1,381 miles away to 72 miles away from each other. Our weekends were spent driving back and forth to each other for another year until our distance away from each other finally closed. In August 2022, our house was finally done being built and we were finally living together. We somehow ended up with two cats, Phoenix and Keegan, in the first year of living there and another two, Gus and Zuko, since then. (We'll see how many more I can convince Kevin to get in the next few years) On October 1, 2023, Kevin brought me to Point Reyes and proposed to me while on the beach. It was the sweetest and best day ever, and I can't wait for our wedding!! We've now been together for 7 years, bought a house together, have 4 fur-children, started our careers, and have lived to the fullest. I couldn't imagine doing life with anyone else :)

I truly never thought the decision to download tinder for the first time in my life was going to change it so drastically. I’m glad 19 year old me just home from his freshmen year of college was bored at the time. I remember one of our first discussions being about soccer because I thought one of her pictures looked like she was wearing a soccer uniform (I still stand by that), but she insisted she had never played soccer before. Nonetheless, I knew she was different. Funny, beautiful, genuine, kind; everything I could want in a partner. There were times early on I questioned: did this really happen? I met this amazing, wonderful girl on tinder of all places? And she just so happens to live in Texas of all places? But every time I questioned, she showed me just why starting a long-distance relationship would be worth it. So we did. And it was the best decision I (and hopefully her) have ever made. We got the system down pat pretty quickly. She would visit me at school during our birthdays, April and October, and I would visit her in the summer while school was out. And we would both be home for Christmas time. In between all of that, there was a lot of FaceTime dates and food deliveries to each other (shoutout dominos and insomnia cookies) to keep things going. Even when we weren’t together, it felt like we were always looking forward to something. It seemed like this went on for so long, it was a weird feeling when we finally were able to move in together. We had been dating for 4 years already but had never actually spent more than a month at a time with each other, and most of the time it was only a week. Living with her dad was a good trial period, for lack of a better word. I knew before that I would spend my life with her, but us clicking so easily while actually living together was just another reason I knew she was the one. So, shoutout to Chris and Rose for all the dinners and hospitality for those couple months that our house was being built. Now, at 26, we are settled down in our very own house with our 4(!) cats. I still think back daily about how we got to this point. There are sometimes I look at her randomly while we’re sitting on the couch or making dinner and just say “can you believe we’re actually here.” Like, this is our life. It still doesn’t feel real sometimes. I’m grateful for everyday that goes by where Mariah is still in my life. I can’t wait to continue building this beautiful life I’ve built with my even more beautiful fiancé.