From Theresa's POV: Our story began in middle school where we both attended Mt. Baker in Auburn, WA. During this time of our adolescents, we both had very distinct and very "2001" looks. Scottie wore thin-rimmed glasses and had a mouth full of braces. I can easily recall his go-to look; a dark blue zip-up fleece vest paired usually paired with a white visor that was all the rage back then. As for me, I was very into trying out varying hair styles. From Bantu Knots (my bad...) to unstyled pixies, my look changed day to day. Scottie and I didn't share the same home room -I was lucky enough to have Scottie's mom as my 6th grade teacher--- we did share gym class. Typical to most gym classes, ours was held in the gymnasium where we would sit "criss cross, applesauce" in long rows. My friend Marcus sat behind me and Scottie behind him. Marcus and Scottie were best friends and grew up together. Marcus tapped my shoulder one day and whispered, 'Scottie wants to know if you'll go out with him?' With a smile I whispered back, 'OK.' For us, dating meant talking in the halls and hanging out at recess. We dated during Christmas that year. Scottie gave me a beautiful necklace and I gave him a Skate Deck. (I would later learn that Scottie bought the necklace at Claire's with the help of his mom). Sadly, our relationship was ended prematurely with the announcement that I was moving to Ohio. I cried every day for 2-weeks. My last day was on a Friday. Scottie walked me to my bus to say goodbye. I wondered the entire time if he would finally hold my hand or if I could summon the courage to hold his. We were too shy and with the quickest hug goodbye, I boarded the bus for home. Most Fridays, kids my age went to Auburn Skate Connection. My mother took pity on me offered to drive me there and surprise him. With my allotted 30-min to say goodbye, Scottie and I made our way to the rink when the call was made for "couples only."

From a Shared POV We will probably never agree on who started writing letters first (or who stopped) but for the first couple months of Theresa living in Ohio, we wrote each other letters. It would be another 3 or 4 years before reconnected in 9th or 10th grade. It was around this time that Tom from MySpace was recognizable to the masses and the platform was the only social media widely used. For the first time, we had access & opportunity to make new connections and search for lost ones. It is this thought that led Scottie to searching for Theresa's profile one day. From there, a year didn't pass without one of us reaching out to say hello. When we both finally had cell phones, texts replaced IMs. From MySpace to Facebook, we maintained enough of a connection to consider the other a friend. It is this connection that gave us the courage to pursue something more when the most unlikely scenario presented itself. Early into Theresa's final year of undergrad and Scottie's junior year, one day we starting texting and for some reason, never stopped. We texted almost every day for months. Texts then turned into calls and before we knew it, calls turned into flights. Against all of the odds, we started were dating long-distance. Scottie in Washington and Theresa in Ohio and then when Theresa moved to San Francisco post-grad. We knew this was something real and made plans to live together in California when we were done with schooling. Being the broke college students we were, we lived simply during our time in California. Theresa's dog, Gunner, moved came from Ohio to live with us. The joy of having Gunner led us to getting a rambunctious boxer puppy we named Brother. Together, the four of us lived happily in rural CA & then San Francisco until the reality of cost of living there could no longer be ignored. In 2014, we moved back to Scottie's home state where we have surrounded ourselves with the most amazing humans that we get to call friends & family.

From Scott's POV: Although I knew she was the one very early on, we were never in a huge hurry to get married. In fact, having shared some of life's tougher lessons (like living paycheck-to-paycheck in San Francisco to afford rent and student loans) it felt like we were already married. In our first 4-years together, along with our 2 dogs, we moved (back) to Seattle, started careers, bought and sold our first condo, bought another house and much more. Our mindset during that time was focused more on adventuring and having fun. Sweet vacations > expensive wedding. Fast-forward 3-years, as our lives began to settle a little, the idea of proposing felt right. I started researching online for ring ideas when I stumbled upon Amy Ambrose. She was this really talented jewelry maker on Instagram who lived in the bay area and who checked all of the right boxes – she was an independent ring maker, does amazing work, was very upfront about sourcing her material from sustainable companies and using recycled metal. To top it all off.. she was vegan! Needless to say I was almost just as excited to tell Theresa who made the ring as I was to give it to her. I enjoyed coming up with the proposal, planning a getaway to Tofino, BC and hired a photographer to take our pics with the idea to propose on an awesome lookout. It was going to be SWEET! Sadly, a week before our trip, the border closed and the world began going into lockdown. When it became obvious Covid was not just going to be a fun week of working from home and then back to normal, I knew I needed to come up with another plan. I didn't want to wait any longer! The Proposal - On our way to a cabin near Lake Wenatchee, with the help of friends, we stopped at Eagle Falls along Highway 2 where I got down on the ol’ knee (heart pounding) and proposed along the river with a great view of the falls. Although it wasn’t quite as elaborate as I had planned originally, it was still an unforgettable day.

From a Shared POV We have been together 9.5 years and during that time we have grown up and shared some of life's most life-changing milestones. First (and second) home, raising two pups, traveling the world and finding out who we are. We have built a home together in Seattle, have befriended some of the most amazing humans, and are looking towards our union and our next chapter with full hearts. We are excited to share that we have purchased a beautiful home in the Sunset Hill (between Golden Gardens and Ballard) neighborhood of Seattle. We have a corner view of the Olympic mountains that we plan to look at every morning through our large corner windows while sipping coffee. We look forward to having each of you visit in the near future!