Meet us in St. Louis

Like many older millenials, we met online. But that's nothing new. The story starts on our second date, when we went to get ice cream at Tower Grover Creamery in the Tower Grove South neighborhood of St. Louis. Picture this: Maddie spills ice cream all over her shirt which is white. Walter gallantly spills ice cream on his own shirt so that Maddie feels less embarrassed. That was in June 2018 and we have been sharing ice cream cones and silly moments ever since.

A year and a half in to our relationship, we decided shuttling dogs back and forth between our own living spaces was for the birds and decided to move in together in March 2020. One day after we moved our stuff in to our new shared space, St. Louis City went in to lockdown as the COVID-19 pandemic took off. Suddenly we were two humans and two dogs in a small apartment, both working from home, both learning about our partner's particular habits, pet peeves, and needs, while also sharing small, quiet moments of joy and peace. The proof that we could make it through such a time of uncertainty and chaos is in the pudding: we decided to buy a house together in October 2020 and made Tower Grove South our permanent home in December of that same year.

The scene begins innocently enough - Maddie is reading on the couch on a Monday night and asks Walter to bring her an ice cream sandwich. Walter approaches the couch, ice cream sandwich in hand, and gets down on one knee. Maddie looks on incredulously as Walter begins his proposal. She didn’t take him seriously until Walter took the ice cream sandwich and smashed it directly in to his chest, while saying he wanted to make her laugh for the rest of their lives. And so he will.