When we were younger, I—Savannah—used to dream about the day Charlie would propose. For years, I lovingly nagged him with things like, “When are you going to propose?” and “You should propose!” All the while knowing that when Charlie—the most patient and kind human—was ready, he would. Years passed filled with my jokes, and eventually even I got tired of myself. I can only imagine how Charlie felt. One night, we had our friends Drew and Kaleb over in our very first apartment together. We were a few rounds into Monopoly when I suddenly realized, “Why don’t we have any music?!” I then offered to grab the speaker from his truck—allllllll the way down three flights of stairs and into the parking lot. When I got to the truck, I started rummaging. And I am a D1 rummager. Suddenly, I see Charlie BOOKING it down the stairs straight toward me. Of course, this was because my ring was in the truck at the time and he needed me out of there immediately. But alas… I did not want to leave. Mwahahaha. Next thing I know, our close friends, Drew and Kaleb come sprinting down the stairs like their feet were starting fires with every step. Suddenly, I’m swept off the ground, flung over a shoulder like a sack of potatoes, and carried right back upstairs—less than thirty seconds after I had left. Naturally, I tried bribing our friends for clues. Neither budged. Stinkers. Looking back now, I’m so thankful we have friends who can keep an engagement a secret for that long. Months later, on May 5th—our anniversary in 2024—we went to Holland’s Tulip Festival. What was supposed to be peak bloom turned out to be… a bunch of dead flowers surrounded by people taking pictures of said dead flowers. Still, the day was beautiful because Charlie and I spent it together. That said, I was peeping Charlie the entire time—watching him reach into his pockets. He even asked someone to take our picture on top of the windmill! Still nothing. I had a strong suspicion and even texted my girlfriends: “Charlie keeps randomly reaching into his pockets!!!” followed shortly by, “He pulled out some lint.” Months went by, and now it was almost Charlie’s birthday—July 22nd. We decided to go to his favorite place in the whole wide world: Silver Lake. After a flawless climb from Charlie and a very laborious, heavy-breathing climb from me, we finally reached the top of the dunes. We made it all the way to the tippiest top we could manage and sat together, completely oblivious to the date, the moment, and the fact that it was just us. As the sun went down, I started taking goofy selfies and pictures of us half-buried in the sand. When we stood up to leave, Charlie wanted more pictures—this time with the sunset behind us. Very bravely, and very out of character, he asked a passerby to take our photo. This woman must have been a photographer in a past life because the pictures were GOLDENNN. Of course, I told her how amazing they were and thanked her. But Charlie had another idea. He wanted another picture. I replied, “Charlie, this one is great!” Still completely clueless. He shrugged and said, “Oh whatever,” as the woman started walking back down the dunes. Suddenly—he got down on one knee and popped the question. AHHHHH!! It was absolutely perfect. Unknown to us at the time, that same passerby had the best intuition and stayed behind, capturing photos and videos of the entire moment from the bottom of the hill. I was completely overwhelmed with love and joy—felt from years before, in that very moment, and for all the time to come.