Marco and I have both been Thrice fans for years. We both had the chance to participate with other fans in the filming of their music video, The Grey (2018). However, Marco already had plans to fly out of town. When the music video was released (https://youtu.be/CCowWugcmHQ) Marco took to Instagram to find out more about the experience shooting the video. After taking a look at a few fans' accounts, he thought my profile looked the least threatening. ;) He slid into my DM's and I entertained his questions. I think he was looking for a bit of closure - hoping that he didn't miss much, but it was obviously a GREAT experience. (Even if I did get sick for 2 weeks after shooting in an old abandoned medical building probably riddled with mold, asbestos, and dead rodents.) We chatted about the new record, which shows on the upcoming tour we were headed to, and decided to meet up before the San Diego show. Seeing as it's quite easy to lose someone at a post-hardcore show, the risk factor wasn't too high for me. We met before the show, grabbed tacos and margs, and really hit it off. I thought he was totally into me from the start, so I made it pretty clear that night that I wasn't *interested*. Turns out he was in the middle of a dating pact, so he wouldn't have made a move either way. We moshed together and even caught the soft opening of a haunt nearby ;) After that, Marco would hit me up any time he was in the Orange County area and we would grab food or a movie and just chill. I really loved his company. During the Fall season of 2019, I was pretty bummed that a lot of my friends were skipping haunts (think Universal Hollywood Horror Nights, Knott's Scary Farm...etc.) and Marco invited me on a group trip with some of his friends to Dark Harbor at the Queen Mary. We ended up getting quite toasty and kissed. The second his lips touched mine, I knew I was in trouble. Our feelings grew over the next few months, but I was denying them each step of the journey. I finally got over myself in March 2020 - and then COVID hit. For the first 3 months of our relationship, our date nights were on my parent's front porch. We sat six feet away and usually watched something or other on Netflix. With the world in chaos, he was my calm. Being with Marco is so easy, I knew pretty early that he was mine forever. <3

It was a dark and stormy night... Ok, it was chilly, dimly lit, and Olivia was in for the scare of her life. This night involved a lot of plotting, including building a fake arch, pouring dirt and sawdust on myself, and talking to a mastermind of the horror maze kind. One of our favorite haunts is Coffin Creek and spooky season, in general, was a pivotal start to our relationship. So, with the gathering of minds, it was a no-brainer to propose at the end of a Halloween maze. It took a lot of coordination between the gentlemen of Coffin Creek, our friends Dylan, Sam, and Janae, sprinkled with the undying patience of our family and friends. As we entered the hilly and howling terrain everything that could go wrong, did. But I'm a procrastinating optimist...I was in my element. From Olivia trying to head to the last maze first, to long lines, to the "How'd the proposal go?" texts, to even seeing our friends' cars creep by. Guided by Dylan's bright orange pumpkin shirt, AKA the "GO" sign, we crawled through the final maze. With my hands clammy and my steps slow, we weaved our way through the undead to the end of the maze, where the beginning of our life together awaited. Olivia's scream left bystanders concerned as 20 ghouls closed in, the fear bringing me down to one knee, or perhaps it was love that did it. At that instance, my thoughts raced and my emotions got the better of me as I began to recite unrehearsed gibberish about puzzle pieces and knowing I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. Thankfully, Olivia and I can speak volumes without conjuring up words, consider it a psychic ability...you know that's right. Luckily, Dylan can also read my body language and proceeded to give me the ring which found itself on Olivia's finger...upside down. Long story short, I found my soulmate, my spooky queen, my forever love, my uber driver, my rock, and my future wife.