We met on Tinder (shoutout to modern romance and location settings). At the time, Calvin had just arrived in Florida to visit his mom and stepdad, and I was staying with my younger sister in Warren County while helping my dad recover from a stroke. We probably wouldn’t have matched otherwise, so thank you, geography and timing. One swipe led to another, and the rest is (beautifully chaotic) history.

I had just had surgery and was feeling a little stir-crazy, so Calvin took me out for a sweet date night. It was just dinner and a movie, nothing fancy, but it felt like magic. On the way home, I even joked, “I kind of thought you were going to propose tonight.” He laughed it off… until we got home. Suddenly he turned to me, pulled out a ring, and started to speak. I think I blacked out. I cried (obviously). Then I apologized for crying (obviously). Calvin laughed and said, “Of course you’d cry and apologize during a proposal.”

From hard moments, new jobs, new places, grad school (shoutout to Calvin for cheering me through my master’s), and now co-parenting a very weird and wonderful cat named Shirley, we've been through a lot together. Through it all, we’ve just kept choosing each other with love, laughter, and a lot of sarcasm. We can’t wait to celebrate this next chapter with you in the woods, surrounded by the people who’ve shaped us.