We have gone to college together in the same year for the past four years, so we officially met about halfway through freshman year. However, we discovered later that there were several casual group meetings we exchanged through the countless "get to know you" games and mixers of early college. Shea worked in the same office as Natalie's roommate, Mel, who told her very early on that she had a feeling Natalie would date him. Several other friends joined in on the shipping by winter break. The plot thickened when Natalie ran an escape room that Shea was playing with some friends (on December 4th). He pretended to not know who she was and she pretended she didn't volunteer to run the room when she saw that he was a member of the group. After trying and failing to discreetly ask for her number at Melanie's birthday party, Shea finally built up the courage (months later) to ask Natalie to hang out. By March, we were going on secret long coffee dates and we were happily official at the end of April.

Fast-forward a little more than two years, to the summer after our Junior year. After much, and very poor, diversion, Shea planned a sweet walk at golden hour in Westwood Gardens, a green space in the middle of our neighborhood in Jackson and one of our favorite spots. After some sweet words and looking at an album of Polaroids he had taken of us throughout our 2+ years relationship, he asked. Several close friends welcomed us for a small backyard celebration afterward, and we felt so happy to be starting on this journey with all of our friends to celebrate and cheer us on.