Alison and Mahdi first met in Mr. Crowley's sixth-grade reading class at Rosa Parks Middle School. In high school, they had more classes together and quickly became friends. They remained friends throughout high school until they went to college, where they lost touch due to the chaos of their freshman year. During the spring semester of their freshman year, Alison and Mahdi got back in touch. While Alison was back home from Colorado State University during winter break of 2018, Mahdi reached out to see if Alison wanted to hang out at the movies. Alison said yes as she did not have a lot of plans over break. By the second movie "date", they realized they liked each other. They officially started dating on December 31, 2018. The next three years would be very hard as Alison went to school in Colorado and Mahdi went to school in Maryland. They were in a long-distance relationship until May of 2021. Several months later, they moved in together into their apartment in Ellicott City. They enjoyed living together with Alison's kitty cat Lily. Mahdi graduated with his Master's in Fire Protection Engineering from UMD in 2022. Mahdi was then hired at Exponent, a forensic consulting firm, as an engineer in their thermal sciences department. Alison started working on her own master's degree around the time Mahdi graduated with his. They were then joined by Artemis, the Persian kitty cat, in the summer of 2023. That fall, Alison started her teaching internship and graduated in the spring of 2024 with a Master of Arts in Teaching. A couple of months later, Alison got hired by Howard County Public Schools and started her first teaching job. With 6 years under their belts as partners and newly acquired full-time jobs, they figured it was about time to get engaged, so on October 19th, 2024, Mahdi popped the question, and of course, Alison said yes! They are looking forward to celebrating their wedding with you on April 11, 2026! They will see you there!