September 6. A day that was seen as 2 days after I, Bryan turned 43. However, it was the first text message of many texts (thousands) and long phone calls that led us towards an awesome relationship (now turning into marriage). The following day, September 7th, I called Mia at 6:05 p.m., and the phone call was intended to be a quick ice-breaker. Instead, we talked on the phone for 4.5 hours. It was an enjoyable 4.5 hours. From that day on, we talked on the phone every single day, up until the September 21st. The 21st of September was the day that we decided to go to a coffee shop (Ironclad) and that’s where everything looked promising. A few days after, we had a couple of hard-hitting conversations, which led to our second date (September 27th), which then caused us to make things official. We saw each other every single day after that. There were a few days we didn’t see each other while she was in California, but our connection has been strong every step of the way. On December 27, we went to Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden (Dominion Energy Gardenfest of Lights 2025-26), & while walking around the park to look at the many lights, I decided to propose to her (in a delayed and odd way...I was nervous) and she said yes (we remember the first two sentences and the last sentence). This has led us to the current point of getting married and spending a lifetime together. THE END...AND THE BEGINNING!!! For more checkout Bryan’s podcast for our shared episode: https://thepassbtpod.buzzsprout.com/920071/episodes/18360275-episode-437-the-2025-year-in-review-with-mia