Reddit. Believe it or not, this dark corner of the internet connected two strangers in a city of 4 million. Over a love for the outdoors and learning the sport of rock climbing, Natalie and Christoph met up one August morning in Malibu, California— two trusting humans on an adventurous day that defined their lives. It is not often that you trust someone on the internet to hold your rope while you ascend 75 feet up a rock face, but maybe that was exactly what we needed—blissful optimism in the strange, strange times of 2020. Now, if trusting a person you met on the internet to hike for an hour and then climb rocks with wasn't enough, why not throw in some California wildfires??? Yes, just hours into our meeting, Christoph was downclimbing that rock face while the firefighters evacuated the canyon. The iconic first photo of us together with the sign "Hope you enjoyed your visit" was the first of many that continue to define our relationship. The next few months were a blur of pre-work sunrise climbs, scuba diving on a Tuesday afternoon, and eventually a backyard yoga session where Christoph realized how beautiful Natalie was while practicing the crow pose. Smitten as we were, we kept building our friendship until a Tuesday evening picnic where Natalie took the plunge and expressed her liking of the lad. The rest is history.... we followed the typical dating progression-- midnight departure camping trips, building a van together, Natalie learning to ski (a dealbreaker for Christoph), buying another van, learning to love each other, living full time in a van, moving to a new city, falling more in love with ourselves and each other, Natalie adopting Christoph's cat-child, climbing the tallest continental USA peak, building another van, and moving to Europe.

It was the perfect weekend, as predicted because how could it not be? We had planned, prepped, and trekked it down from Sacramento to Los Angeles to ferry ourselves over to Catalina Island one beautiful weekend in October. The scene was set, not only was Christoph going to propose this weekend, we also were celebrating the third year of Sufferfest (an annual day full of activities that push you to suffer a bit, but gain a lot. Sufferfest 4.0 is also occurring in June 2024 in LA!!). After Hannah, Cory, Natalie and Christoph backpacked through a bison basin and many winding trails we met up with the other half of our amazing friends who hiked from the other side of the island and set up camp. We snorkeled, went beach combing, had an epic scavenger hunt. Then, while the clouds were clearing and the sun was setting, Natalie was just exiting the crisp California ocean from a snorkel session with mermaid Hannah when Christoph took her hand and smiled that cute side smile while walking up the cliffside. At the top of the cliff, while gazing through teary eyes and an ecstatic smile, Christoph asked Natalie to continue this journey of life together. They both exchanged rings and beautiful words that evening and celebrated surrounded by so much love (and a bonfire roaming bison!). We are so grateful to have such an amazing community of people to share moments like this with. It is a moment forever engrained in our hearts but just one small, loving moment of many we have shared this far in life <3