We met just like all adults do these days. Online, of course! Dating app messages turned into text messages which eventually led to our first date at Bingo. The brewery—not the game—to be clear. Megan was adorably shy for the first half of that date, but who wouldn't be when your co-worker randomly yells your name just moments ater sitting down? As the night continued, Megan's shyness slowly dissolved—probably because I "let" her win at Connect 4 & Skee-ball. Not wanting the first date to end so soon, we, a newly smitten couple, left Bingo to stroll through the Fan in search of "The Shape,” a twenty-foot (or higher) dodecahedron situated in the playground of an elementary school. Megan excitedly began climbing the massive shape as I swallowed my desperate fear of falling to follow her to the top. Under the stars, twenty feet above the ground, our love story really began. Fast forward three years and it's at the top of that very same shape where I proposed to Megan. (She said yes!)

Amanda and I have spent the better part of our lives (unknowingly) trying to find one another. On at least three occasions throughout our lifetimes, we’ve’ve lived less than a mile from each other. A lot of waiting and some rough, rocky roads later, we finally made our way to one another in Richmond, via Bumble, to our first date at Bingo (the barcade, not the game for old people). After scaling the shape hidden away on the elementary school’s playground on Strawberry St., one date led to a second, sharing glasses of rosé at Brambly, to a third and fourth, dogs and chips and queso all included, to so many more. Amanda proposed to me atop the same shape where we spent their first date, and now we are so very excited to celebrate and formalize our committment of loving one another, forever, this upcoming fall, surrounded by the falling leaves, brisk autumn breeze, and all of the people we hold closest to us.