Jordan and I had both been separately invited to a mutual friend's house for dinner in April of 2020. I was boiling some chicken for enchiladas when Jordan showed up. We hung out in the kitchen talking about mutual Navy friends we knew, while our friends were having a talk on their front porch. As the night went on, my friend wanted to take shots. I looked at Jordan and asked him if he wanted to take shots every time we took one. I'm sure you can guess what his answer was. We ended up sitting next to each other while playing Phase 10, talking and getting to know one another, almost like he planned it... While Jordan was playing music from his phone, I wanted to see what he listened to, so I took his phone and saw he listened to Phish. At that time, the only song I knew was Contact, so I asked if he had it. I have never seen someone look up so fast. He was surprised that I even knew who they were, let alone the song Contact! That moment there was where our story began.

We were in Vermont visiting friends and family after Jordan’s last deployment. We planned a day with Ray and Ange to hike Camel's Hump. I was dying trying to keep up with them. I kept telling them to leave me and eventually I would catch up to them on their way back down! The whole time I was getting told it would be worth it at the top. The only people who knew what was going to happen was Ray and Jordan! About half way up, Ray started to call me the "Master of the Stairs," saying we were climbing nature's Stair-Master. After 2 and a half miles of what felt like a vertical hell, we finally reached the top; it was beautiful (or as Jordan would say, “The best view of Vermont”). We ate some snacks and just took it all in. I finally asked Jordan if he wanted to take some pictures with me and he nervously said yes. As Ange was making sure we had the perfect angle for couples photos, Ray also had his phone out, which I didn’t initially think anything of. After Ange had finished taking photos, Jordan asked if she could take one more normal one (weird right? He doesn't even like photos. Still didn't have a clue). Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him move to one knee towards me. I was shocked and excited and didn’t know what to do with my hands. I said Yes, of course. We celebrated at the top, enjoyed some Long Drinks, and marveled over "The best view of Vermont."