We're getting married!

We met the old fashioned way....by swiping right! We connected on a dating ap called "Coffee Meets Bagel" (CMB). Christina had been on the dating ap since July 2016 and had stopped even bothering to check it since the late summer of 2017. Suddenly on December 15, 2017, while sitting in her office, she thought to herself, "You know what? I think I am going to check CMB and clear out all my notifications." What do you know? There was this guy named Joe Valenzuela who had "liked" her - just the day before! She hit the "like" button and sent a quick message through the ap, "So, you can get me in super great shape....right?" (He was an owner of a CrossFit gym at the time.) Luckily he appreciated her attempt at humor and responded affirmatively. While it took him a week to actually ask her out (Christina was his second date through the ap), they had their first date on December 29, 2017 at a little restaurant in Somerville MA called Casa B where they bonded over good food and drink for 5 hours. We have not gone a single day without communicating since.

In 2014 Christina was hiking Mt Greylock with a girlfriend and took a picture of a beautiful pond near the top. In August 2017 Joe was hiking Mt Greylock, walked by the same pond, and took the exact same picture, frame the same exact way. We discovered very early on in our dating journey that we had this common experience and were blown away by the fact that of all the trails on Mt Greylock--we traversed the same one; walked by the same spot; experienced the moment in the same way; and captured the moment by taking identical pictures. Kind to think of it, it is the perfect metaphor of our entire relationship. Where else could he possibly propose? When Joe mentioned to Christina he wanted to go to Williamstown that fall, she had an inkling what was REALLY on his mind. We took the Cheshire Harbor trail to the top and found the same spot. Joe delayed a bit until we had people around and one of the men hiking by offered to take our picture. Joe said, "Well, would actually mind capturing a major life event?" The hikers walking by stopped and gasped in excitement. He then got on one knee, took out the ring, and asked Christina to marry him. Of course she said, "YES!"