Our story begins with a swipe right, a Christmas sweater, and a little white lie. Matthew and I met on the dating site Hinge. His main picture had him sprawled out on a couch with a hideous Christmas sweater that really made me laugh. For the first week my friend Emma and I referred to him as Christmas sweater boy. He messaged me first, but soon after decided I was a boring texter. He tried to stop talking to me, but I persisted. I asked him out three times before he finally agreed to meet me for a drink. At dinner we talked about many things but BOTH claimed that we had recently begun a plant based diet. However after drinks we went next door to the pizza place and ordered the Slaughterhouse Five (a pizza with five different meats on it). From that point on Matt and I became fairly inseparable. He matched my love for FaceTiming, trying new restaurants, and our pets Hank and Albus.

Those of you who know Matt know he has so many great qualities. However, patience and keeping cool are not amongst them. On the day Matt proposed, Matt woke up at 3:30 am. After asking me if I was still sleeping he said he was going downstairs to get some work done. He said, "Holler at me if you are going to come downstairs.” because he and I regularly announce when we go from room to room. At that moment I knew Matt was going to propose. Now for those of you who know me well, you know I LOVE to binge on romance novels in which the proposals are always extravagant. So, I started to freak out. How was I supposed to say “Yes?” Was I supposed to cry? I decided to write Matt a note. I began the note letting him know that I knew he was about to propose and that if he asked today, my answer would be . . . but I did not get to finish my note because Matt came bursting through the doors claiming he was going to call an audible. I have been pretending to be a huge sports fan for years, but I was really put to the test. I absolutely did not know what an audible was. After explaining the concept of an audible, Matt gave me a really nice note and got down on one knee. Unfortunately, I had not finished my note, so I told him to hold on one second. I think Matt said something along the lines of “Are you f*&%^#@ kidding me?” I finished my note saying, “If you are asking me to marry you, my answer is ‘Ducks fly together,’ a statement that has become our thing since my tumor situation of 2022. After that proposal we could not really do much to celebrate because it was 5:30 in the morning, so we spent the morning watching videos that Matt had made for me from people who expressed their personal—and often heartfelt—wishes for us. Of course, we Facetimed anyone who could possibly be awake! It was hands down the best morning of my life.