Once upon a time, Meg was spending the summer in Old Forge, and Ben was stationed at Fort Drum. With no one of interest around, they both downloaded Tinder to only magically swipe right on each other. Meg was the first to slide into Ben's DMs and asked Ben where in California he was from (his bio mentioned he was from California). Ben was not only impressed with her looks but that she reached out to him first. After weeks of long calls and texting daily, Ben drove the hour and a half to take Meg out on a date (that didn't start until 9:30pm). Ben picked Meg up and they drove down to the local ice cream shop. As they parked the car, a black bear was hanging around the dumpster. Ben exclaimed, "that's a bear", as Meg hopped out of the car and said "yeah!" as she made her way to the ice cream shop. Following ice cream, they continued their date to Raquette Lake where they set up camp in the back of Ben's truck where they talked for hours under the sky. In that moment, they knew each other was the "one".

What a year 2020 was. First came COVID, then came an extended deployment, then came an ENGAGEMENT! What was first going to be a proposal on the top of Micchu Pachu, then a proposal at their first date location, eventually became a proposal in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. Ben and Meg's love for the mountains and the outdoors runs deep - that's why Ben knew that the perfect proposal had to happen in the great outdoors. Ben and Meg spent the morning off-roading on trails throughout Franklin National Forest. A totally normal day of stopping to see the sights and scouting out a place where they could have a picnic later on, would eventually turn into one of the most memorable days for them. As the afternoon continued, Ben and Meg went back to the spot that looked great and set up camp for the afternoon. As Yukon ran around chasing flies and his ball, Ben and Meg chatted away about their future and love for each other. As they continued to chat and cuddle, Ben pulled out the ring and asked Meg to marry him. Without any hesitation, Meg exclaimed yes!