THE FIRST TIME I SAW Allie, she was sitting across the room in our contextual education class during our master's orientation program. I was instantly aware of her warmth, her shining smile, and her beauty. She thought I looked like a youth pastor. THE FIRST TIME I TALKED with Allie, it was later the same day on a long van ride to our internship site in Gwinnett County, Georgia. We sat together in the back and talked the whole way. I learned about her adventurous spirit as she had recently returned to the US from 10 months traveling the globe. I learned about her brilliant mind as she had come to seminary to pair her studies in kinesiology with spirituality to find a more holistic perspective on health. I learned about her loving heart which she offered to all things in this shared universe. As for Allie, she walked away from the conversation full of curiosity about my own perspectives and hopeful for a new friendship. THE FIRST TIME I DANCED with Allie, it was New Year's Eve on the verge of 2020. Blissfully unaware of the year ahead, we tore up the makeshift dance floor at Sister Louisa's Church, a bar in Atlanta. As the moments ticked down to midnight, my mind raced with the thought of stealing a kiss from this woman aflame with joy and beauty before me. I held back. Allie says I shouldn't have. THE FIRST TIME I PROPOSED to Allie, we were in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, hundreds of miles from any place we had ever called home. It was a mind-bending weekend full of laughter, beautiful views, and a few tears. We had been through so much over the last three and a half years. We had pushed through a pandemic, graduated from seminary, moved across the country- and, through it all, fallen deeper and deeper in love with every breath and every step. We walked along a bright green trail, down a rocky hillside to a waterfall. Allie surprised me (and the photographer hiding in the trees) as she began to slip off her shoes and lead me into the water. Seeing her standing there, rooted in the ringing pond, my heart did not skip a beat or falter. Rather it settled into a deep knowing. A knowing that before me was both a force of nature and a constant - a partner, a friend, a lover. A familiar story and a mystery. She contained multitudes, and always will. That knowing steadied me as I led her to the shore, got down on one knee and asked her to marry me. Allie said yes. Since those days, Allie and I have seen, talked to, danced with, and yes, even proposed to each other many more times. As we now near our wedding day, we cannot wait to share with you the first time we say "I DO."