It was Mutual. No really. The online dating app. New York City boy and college town North Carolina girl were interested in each other's online dating profiles full of pictures of travel and adventure. We matched. Richard said hi first. Then we fell out of touch. Short though it was, something was refreshing about our first conversation, and we started talking again three months later. This time Tacy said hi first. Texting turned to phone calls which fed our interest and flirtations to a level that we just had to meet in person. We were so excited to meet that we planned two perfect weekends in a row before we ever met. Bold. Richard was so nervous he changed his shirt before knocking on her door. Tacy was simultaneously calming herself down with a pep talk from her roommate. Taking a breath, Tacy opened the door and her nerves unraveled all over again because there Richard stood, composed and charming. Leaning on her railing, he smiled and said, "hey." She introduced him to the best BBQ in North Carolina, followed by kayaking in old towns, driving on country roads, and listening to some country music odes. He matched as host in NYC the next weekend, helping her fall in love with not only him but also the beloved brownstone city: a Broadway play, Brooklyn Bridge views, and a bike ride picnic with some of his oldest friends. We don't know about love at first sight, but we do know that after those first weekends we felt like we had known each for years; we felt like we had found home, and we couldn't get enough of each other. Thus began hundreds of hours of late-night (okay, early morning) phone calls, more flights than we care to admit (worth it), and the building of the best relationship of our lives. We're in love. We see God in the timing. And we are excited to build a life together. We get a good laugh out of the fact that it took us an online dating app and living in NY and NC to help us meet when we actually went to the same high school.

I picked Richard up the night before from the Dulles International Airport outside of D.C. We were spending the weekend with our dear friends Nico and Abby to enjoy their company as well as the famed cherry blossoms in DC. I had driven up from North Carolina, and he flew in from Salt Lake City. When I picked him up from the airport at midnight he had flowers in hands. I learned that he had carried them on his lap the entire flight in order to not squish them. It was so cute and I was definitely suspicious. Because of our lack of plans Saturday night, I was sure it was happening the next day. The next morning we went to brunch with our friends, and then tried and failed to see the blossoms because of traffic. Richard decided instead of going back to Maryland with Nico and Abby and co., we should walk around Alexandria until later that evening. So we went there and talked. For an hour. On a bench by the river. Then my Richard kneeled down suddenly and asked me to marry him. It was just us by the Potomac River on a bench. He had somehow managed to take me by surprise, and it happened after what we love doing best, just talking about life ideas with each other.