We met on a dating site called "Zoosk". Phoebe had downloaded it on a whim and forgotten she already had an account that she had abandoned some years previous. Sean sent the first message commenting "wow! great hair" as Phoebe's hair was lavender and rainbow at the time. Phoebe almost didn't respond as she was already wary from a month of sifting through internet creeps, but mom intervened and encouraged Phoebe to send a response. But Sean was different, he was kind and engaging and didn't give off the same creeper vibes as the other matches. It wasn't long before we set up a first date. We would meet at the Nelson Atkins and then get coffee and potentially continue to dinner depending on how the aforementioned activities went. What Sean wasn't expecting was that Phoebe had gotten to the Nelson around 10 am...for brunch. Yes, the Geek Girl Brunch group was in full swing when Phoebe got the text that he had arrived a full hour early, much to the delight of the other brunch members. We went ahead and started the date early, but Sean soon noticed some slight whispering as, yes, the brunch group was following us. They wanted to make sure he "wasn't a serial killer". Sean was a good sport and we laughed it off as we continued to coffee and made dinner reservations at Cooper's Hawk Winery. Dinner was wonderful and we didn't want the night to end so we finished off our date with cards and hookah at Sinbad's Hookah Bar. In total that first date lasted about 12 hours. The tradition of long dates continued with a second, third and eventually 3 more years of dates.

The Covid-19 pandemic affected many people's plans. For us, it postponed our move to Phoenix and Phoebe entering grad school, and it also affected the proposal. Sean had a grandiose original plan, and whatever it was it would have been great. But Covid came and plans were adjusted and postponed. Eventually Sean found a nice restaurant that was following good Covid safety measures and was able to convince Phoebe to leave the apartment. Sean took Phoebe to the Phoenix City Grille, where he recreated her dream proposal from when she was 7 years old. According to 7 year old Phoebe, a true proposal was at a fancy restaurant, after 7 pm, made on one knee, and followed by dessert. The staff was lovely and even offered to take photos after the proposal. It was a bright spot after living through several lockdowns.

In 2019 we took our first full vacation together, a trip to Hot Springs, AR to go crystal mining and enjoy the spa. It was fantastic. The history of the Hot Springs area combined with the great local food and sites made it a very memorable trip. Our favorite though, was going to the Garvin Woodland Gardens. There we walked along the massive Japanese garden and enjoyed watching the Koi. However, we both audibly gasped when we saw the Anthony Chapel. The beautiful timber and glass building was unlike anything we had ever seen and against the garden it was stunning. When we were planning our wedding we couldn't get this location out of our heads. We had such a wonderful time in the Hot Springs at at the gardens and we wanted to share that feeling. We hope you will enjoy the area as much as we did and still do.