We met at work and initially were just two people who worked in the same department. We didn't work closely or have many interactions in the early days, but about a year after I joined the team Eric started teaching me how to write code. As a complete novice, it was during this time that I realized how kind and patient Eric is, which lay the groundwork for my falling in love with him over the next several years. In the last few months of 2021, I grew to understand just how thoughtful, caring, and empathetic he is as he supported me in every way he could through Archie's back surgery and recovery. We started to grow closer in the spring of 2022 when I started looking for my own house to buy; knowing he had recently bought his home gave me an excuse to talk to him about things unrelated to work, and I pretty quickly realized that I missed him on the weekends - I couldn't wait for Monday morning so I could talk to him again. After several months of bonding over Harry Potter, our love for our pets, and navigating the housing market, Eric invited me to his house for a friendly drink - and the rest is history!

The first time Morgan and I spent time together outside of work was a few weeks before she found her first house. We had been talking for months about buying homes and how Archie was doing, and I had grown very fond of talking to her daily. But I never really thought it would go beyond friendship at first. I am a few years older and since we worked together, I would never want to make it awkward; especially since I enjoyed our conversations so much. A few weeks before we hung out, she had mentioned she would like to see my house since I had just moved in the year prior and that was our main topic of conversations. I told her anytime she could come over and have a drink but never thought she would take me up on it. But one weekend she asked, "You still wanna have a drink later?". She was adamite it happened that specific weekend. I came to find out that was because her parents were in Mexico, and she was living with them at the time and didn't want to have to explain the situation. She came over to my place on a Saturday evening with her favorite drink, gin and tonic. I showed her around my house, and we spend most the time just sitting on the couch talking about anything and everything. Before we knew it, it was close to midnight, and she had to get back to let Archie out. I remember thinking how much I enjoyed just spending time with her, even if it was just as friends. As we said our goodbyes, I asked if she would like a hug since I felt we were real friends now and not just people who work together. She said yes so, I gave her a hug but she didn't hug me back. I was deflated. I thought I made her feel uncomfortable and things would be weird after that. I felt I ruined the night and that any thoughts of us being more than friends were nothing more than a pipe dream. I felt like she was letting me know that I am in the friendzone and that's where I needed to stay. For the next few months Morgan continued to talk to me, and I was always confused when she would say nice things to me like "anyone would be lucky to be with you" or "you're such a great guy". I always assumed there was a but you're just not for me attached to that after the hug. But I wanted to keep talking to her so I started do things to keep the conversations going. I bought her Chipotle for lunch at work. I started reading some of her favorite books. I sent her flowers after she got her house. I offered to pay for lawn service as a housewarming gift. Anything to keep the conversations alive. While it seemed like I wanted more, I was never going to ask her out on an actual date. It was not until she told me she wanted more than just friendship after I told her she was wonderful one evening after she asked why I did all these nice things for her. When she asked what was so wonderful about her my response was "Your beautiful inside and out. You have one of the best personalities I've ever met, and I mean that. You're kind, funny, thoughtful, sweet, and caring. You're smart and independent. You're fun to talk to and I don't know why. I have thought about it and can't figure it out. You have so much going for yourself but can't seem to see it. I know you say you don't deserve me but I feel the same way about you. And I just enjoy talking to you and being your friend. And I fear that you will find me weird and I will losing talking with you. Especially after I just said all that...." I was content with just being friends if it meant keeping what I had. But luckily for me, she wanted more too. It took a while for her to tell me that because she had some of the same fears I did. But without her making the first move, I would have never asked her out on our first date. And to this date, I will give her a hard time about the hug, especially when she says she's a great hugger.

Although we had been spending a little time together outside of work for a couple of months, our first official date wasn't until October 16th, the day before my birthday! Eric packed a small picnic, picked me up, and drove us out to Les Bourgeois winery where we bought a bottle of wine and just talked for hours. It was a warm, sunny day and was just beautiful sitting up on the bluffs. The plan was to go out to dinner after, but my dog Archie has terrible bladder control (if you know, you know!) and can't go for that many hours without being let outside, so Eric agreed to stop at my house on the way to dinner so we could take Archie on a walk and feed him his dinner - this was one of my first signs that this guy is special! Eric is the absolute best dog dad. After the boy was taken care of, we headed to Flat Branch where we sat at the bar for dinner and their famous cream soda. It's still one of our favorite places to go for lunch or dinner!

Eric and I went on a backpacking trip with my dad and my brother this past summer in Rocky Mountain National Park. We've both done some camping, but neither of us had ever done a backpacking trip like this before, so it was fun preparing for it together - little did I know, he was keeping a secret! We got up in the middle of the night to drive into the park and hike up to our campsite on a Monday morning. It took us a few hours to make it to our destination, but the hike was beautiful and a lot less strenuous than I anticipated. We set up camp and spent the afternoon swinging in the hammock and exploring the area together. It was a cold and rainy evening, so all four of us retreated to our tents early to keep warm and dry. Unfortunately, between the wind and Eric's snoring, I slept terribly that first night in camp. The next morning, before sunrise, Eric started moving around and got out of the tent. I thought to myself "maybe I'll finally get some sleep!" and kept my eyes shut. I heard him outside the tent talking to my dad and my brother, but I was exhausted, and the sun wasn't up yet so I decided to stay put. A few minutes later, Eric peeked his head into the tent and told me to get up, that my dad and brother were heading down to the lake to take pictures of the mountains at sunrise, to which I replied, "you go ahead, I'll catch up with you in a few minutes." He wouldn't take no for an answer, so I begrudgingly got out of my warm sleeping bag. Once we got to the lake, my dad and my brother were already done setting up their camera equipment and had started taking photos. Eric and I stood next to each other enjoying the view, and a few (nervous, it turns out) minutes later he asked my brother if he would mind taking a few pictures of us. We stepped in front of the camera, Josh made sure the lighting was just right, and he started snapping photos. The next thing I knew, Eric gave me a kiss on the cheek, then turned me to face him, gave me a kiss, and started talking. He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him with my dad and brother there taking photos and videos and Mt. Meeker standing tall behind us. We had a beautiful day that second day of our camping trip - the clouds and rain cleared, the air warmed up, and we spent most of the day in the spot where he proposed. All the other campsites cleared out that day, so the four of us had the entire area to ourselves for the second night of the trip. We spent it exploring, eating terrible camp food, and gazing at the stars until bedtime. The next morning we packed up camp and drove back to my brother and sister-in-law’s house where my mom and sister-in-law were waiting with a bottle of champagne and cupcakes to celebrate!