For anyone that knows Kayla and Andrew, normal things probably don't come to mind. The story of the proposal will probably not change that. 3 years ago, we were visiting a particularly horrible friend of ours, Ricky Avonti, who decided to badger Kayla over and over again about when her boyfriend Andrew was going to pop the question. Kayla, wanting desperately to remove herself from a conversation with Ricky, quickly remembered a video she saw on the internet of a friendly crow. "I will only get married to Andrew if he proposes by crow", Kayla flippantly replied, quickly forgetting this apparent joke. But Andrew would not let that go. Fast forward to May 22nd, 2024. Kayla's sister Brittany and her her husband Chris, had invited her and Andrew to the Milwaukee Audubon society for a bird encounter. The Audubon society rescues birds that can't be released to the wild and offers bird encounters for the general public to come and view the resident birds do their enrichment activities. Chris works for the Milwaukee tourism board and it made sense that he would have access to a unique event. I mean, this couldn't possibly be a set up for Kayla to unknowingly be in the same room with Andrew to propose to her via a crow named Loki that had been training for this event for 4 months right? Right? Well, you probably know the answer by now. About an hour into the bird encounter event, Loki's handler signaled that Loki wanted to paint us a picture. Loki had been training for months to hold a paint brush in his beak and then quickly make a few paint strokes on a canvas. Andrew and Kayla sat right next to Loki as he got to work painting, where the two of them also painted a little bit on the canvas. Little by little, Andrew, Kayla and Loki realized that there was something written in invisible ink on the canvas. "Will you marry me?" quickly appeared. Let's recap. Did Andrew propose to Kayla in a way that was supposed to be a joke? Especially a joke to humiliate Rick? Yes. Yes it was. Did Andrew need to spend nearly half a year finding a location with a trained crow, negotiate with a bird rescue non-profit a way to incorporate a wild bird into a private event, oversee crow training and organize about 10 people to keep Kayla in the dark about the proposal? Yes. Yes Absolutely. Are you, the reader, really only invited to a wedding because a crow painted a picture? Yes. Is this a sign that Andrew and Kayla are meant for each other and that they will soon celebrate their eternal love? I mean, probably. But c'mon, pour one out for Andrew figuring out the whole crow thing.

'Twas a balmy day in Shanghai China in the summer. Andrew was working for a company there and started a service that brought colleges from the USA to market themselves in China. On the other side of the world, Kayla opened her email inbox to see that some company was inviting their school to come to China and do biznus. Much like a Nigerian prince scamming people for their money, Andrew was thrilled to see that Kayla responded and would be making her way to China to represent her school. After swooning over Andrew's impeccable charm, smooth movies and superman jawline, Kayla was head over heels. Much like a dog that caught the car, Andrew and Kayla then had to figure out what a future for the two of them looked like while Andrew was travelling between Boston and China when Kayla was in Milwaukee. What followed was a long distance relationship that found the two of them trying their best to see each from trips to Houston, New Hampshire, China, Wisconsin and more to cultivate their budding relationship. The two of them knew that sooner or later, they would need to figure out how they could occupy the same place at the same time. Kayla decided to take a gamble and buy a one way ticket to Boston and like many in New England would understand, start her Boston life where everyone does: a death trap of an apartment in Alston. These two have weathered much together. Uncertainty about where to live together with family and friends spread around the globe, having meticulous plans to live overseas gut checked by covid and trying to make their lives work around a relationship that really fell into their laps. Despite all of this, Kayla and Andrew knew they wanted to be together and so long as they could keep that, the rest of life could be figured out.