I was in class one afternoon, and when my professor asked what I was doing for my weekend I replied "just working, not much else I do right now". He froze, looked up at me, and said "I have a student in another class. He's a physicist, you should talk to him. He's TALL ;)". I ignored this at first, but word got around to Hugo's friends and they started recommending him to me, akin to a sales pitch. So, assuming I had nothing to lose, I walked right up to Hugo one day and introduced myself. I later found out he was with someone else at the time, so I backed off and kept my distance. Fast forward to the following August, I was late to a meeting I wasn't invested on attending, and I see a disheveled man jogging up the steps from the basement of the physics building. My first thought was "I'm sure he doesn't remember my name", so I kept walking. But he kept jogging and waved at me, profusely apologizing that he did not, in fact, remember my name. We started chatting, when he quickly informed me that he was now single. We ended up talking for two hours about history, politics, religion and the arts. He asked me out to dinner a few days later. I fell in love with him after only dating for about three weeks, I realized it on a trip to Breckenridge together. I thought at the time "I can't tell him, he'll think I'm crazy". So I didn't, at the time. A few months later he would tell me he had the same thought that day. The following year we were living together, and taking a trip to the Netherlands. We both knew we were getting engaged, we had discussed it at length. We each set a budget, and bought each other rings. Hugo proposed to me in front of a historic windmill in his Opa's village. A few days later I proposed to him at a tank museum. He's the kindest, most interesting person I know. I never thought I would have so much joy and laughter in my life as I do now.

At the time when Maddie first ambushed me on my way out from class. I distinctly remember spilling water on myself, thinking first "Woah this girl is stunning" followed shortly by "Oh shit she's really smart." I proceeded to embarrass myself. I didn't think much of the interaction at first, but she always said hi to me and seemed to have the uncanny ability to run into me in the hallways of our University. The school year ended, and I was off to the races with my internship at the time. Then, one day in August I see a familiar person walking in front of the physics building. I have a moment of panic as I realize, I do not in fact remember this girl's name, and I look like I just lost a fight with a bear. Against such disadvantageous circumstance I ran up to talk to her. We hit it off immediately. We spoke for so long that I was 2 hours late to a prior engagement. I got her number and within a few days asked to "Make up" for forgetting her name by taking her out for drinks. A mere 9 months later, in April 2024, I found myself helping Maddie with stats homework. In the process of helping I somehow was dared into proposing to her. Being me, I said "Ok, lets go outside right now!". So I did propose to her, with no ring, no plan and certainly no forethought. The following morning, we came together and realized that this was not a smart plan. We unanimously agreed that if we felt we couldn't tell our mothers yet, we weren't ready. This marked a world record attempt for the shortest engagement. The funny thing about this brief engagement, is both of us knew now that marriage was certainly a future aspiration. With some ground rules on living together and knowing each other better we knew it would come up again. It certainly came up again, and fortunately for me we were on the same page and we knew it was right. We budgeted rings and bought flights to the Netherlands. My proposal was in no way a surprise. The anticipation on her face as we approached the windmill in Alphen made that very clear, and she said yes. A few days later Maddie busted out a ring in front of an American WWII Fabrication truck and returned the request. I think I knew she who I was going to marry well before I was even dared to propose. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to spend the rest of my life laughing and learning with her.