"I've known my fair share of cats" is one of the things Alex said during their first date, which caused Norah to start laughing. Little did they know that this exchange would foreshadow many silly moments yet to come. The date had been arranged by a mutual friend, who thought they would be "perfect for each other" (turns out, they were!). Their first date was actually a "blind" date. Norah and Alex chose to meet at a park in a nearby town, where they walked and talked for a while before heading to dinner. A true gentleman, Alex walked Norah to the train station before heading home. Nervous to text "too soon," Alex waited until the next day to contact Norah and ask her on a second date. Of course, he did not know that Norah had been enthusiastically texting her friends about the date since the night before. Since Alex had already planned a camping trip with friends that week, they had to wait another week for their second date. They would later confess to each other that it had been too long to wait to see each other again. A few more dates, which included rock climbing and a guitar concert in NYC, and they knew they were meant for each other. Of course, the real test came when Alex met Norah's pup, Ponchis. But, it was love at first sight for the two of them as well!

In March 2019, Norah and Alex booked a spontaneous trip to Utah for the following month, during Norah's spring break from teaching. They planned to travel across Utah to visit several National Parks. Soon after, Alex realized that this would be the perfect opportunity to pop the question. Of course, he did not anticipate the odyssey that awaited him trying to hide his plans from Norah while living together. Eventually, Alex started making excuses for coming home late, claiming that he got "stuck" at work solving issues. Norah, used to these things happening in the world of computer science, had no idea that Alex was actually taking this time to go shopping for rings. Although she (innocently) almost spoiled the surprise a couple of times, everything went as planned...that is until a TSA agent at the airport almost opened the bag containing the ringbox. The day after they arrived in Utah (which was also the day after Norah's birthday), Norah and Alex went to explore Arches National Park in Moab. Right before sunset, Alex took Norah to a spot called "The Fiery Furnace," known for its view of the sunset. At this spot, Alex got on one knee, opened his backpack, and took out a Stop&Shop bag containing something (you can imagine how confused Norah was at this point). He then proceeded to talk about how much he loved Norah and how he wanted to spend the rest of their lives together, took out the ring box, and revealed the ring saying "Will you marry me?" Plot twist: Turns out, the Stop&Shop bag was Alex's way to disguise its contents and prevent Norah from being curious enough to look inside.