We're so excited to celebrate with you

During our freshman year of college, we had evening biology labs together. On the first day, I walked in and picked a seat at an empty table. Mariah came in and sat next to me. We were both staying in the honors dorm on campus and started talking while we were walking back in the evenings. Later in the semester, we were staying up late while studying together for our exams and found that we had a lot in common. We had been working together for a few months before we finally had our first date at the Dairy Queen on High Street.

Christmas of 2019 was the first time we got to spend the holidays together. I had been staying with my mom and dad for a few days and Matt drove up on Christmas eve. That night, unbeknownst to me, Matt told my dad that he had purchased a ring and planned to propose. Matt had to try several times to wake me up early on Christmas morning. We went down stairs and sat on the couch in front of the tree, just the two of us. He pulled the ring out of his pocket and asked me to marry him.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the US, I was preparing for the end of my second year of medical school and Matt was finishing his first. Normally our studies kept us apart for most hours of the day, so we were grateful for all the extra time we got to spend together. We found that despite all the craziness in the world, we were very happy while adjusting to the lockdown. We particularly enjoyed our quick, late-night Kroger runs where we stocked up for two weeks at a time. The worst part about being stuck in our tiny one bedroom apartment was the neighbors. We had one neighbor at the time who had his own podcast that we heard way too much of.