Eric met Kelsey when he was volunteering at TEDxFlourCity in Rochester, NY while she was on the organizing team. Based on her energy he thought she was 22 but really she was just sleep deprived. When it came time for lunch Eric showed Kelsey how to bag the boxed lunches (because she was struggling, because she was sleep deprived) and later that day, she wrote a haiku based on his suggested theme of 'googly eyes.' At the after party, he impressed Kelsey by ordering an Old Fashioned. The next day Kelsey messaged Eric and a week later they went on their first date.
Over the summer Eric and Kelsey traveled west to hike the Grand Canyon and the 'Big 5' Utah National Parks. The first of many hikes in Zion National Park was Angel's Landing. This particular hike starts on the West Rim Trail, heads up a hilarious switchback named 'Walter's Wiggles' before continuing on to a knife edge hike out to what Kelsey referred to as 'certain death.' They made it onto Angel's Landing a short ways, considered it a win, and turned back to the trailhead. They decided that they had more in them so they continued up West Rim Trail which was more or less deserted and found a beautiful clearing at the top of the mountain. Eric has a tradition of collecting a rock from the top of the mountain or bottom of the canyon on each hike. At the top of this hike Eric mentioned he hadn't collected his rock yet. Kelsey got up to assist when he stopped her and said 'I already have one.' Sitting side by side on the mountain Eric proposed, to which Kelsey replied 'Yeah! Totally!'