Dustin and I matched on the popular dating app, Bumble, in late June of 2017. I immediately was drawn to Dustin through his words. He asked genuine questions and gave detailed responses as we communicated. After about two weeks of conversation, we finally had an opportunity to meet. Our first date was on the rooftop of my loft in Cabbagetown. Dustin had trouble (got lost) finding The Stacks after I advised him to use Waze or Google Maps; little did I know this would continue throughout our relationship - Dustin knows everything! Ha. After making it to the loft I briefly showed him around and he was AMAZED. Kudos to my decorating skills and newly found minimalist lifestyle (besides kitchen/entertaining pieces). I also had an impressive assortment of craft beers which he took a liking to. We spent the evening on the rooftop; nearly 6 hours talking about our past, present, and future lives. It was a dream. At the time I couldn’t explain the feeling, but I knew it was something special. The next day Dustin and I walked to Superica at Krog Street Market and again spent the entire evening talking about our lives. What struck me was he looked into my eyes the entire night. He sat close and really listened as I spoke. We had plans to hangout again that Friday and little did I know, our third date would be when it all came together in my heart, mind, and soul that this was the man I would spend the rest of my life with. He asked if I wanted to go see his cousin play his last show. I absolutely love music so I said yes. Our trip consisted of playing YouTube videos in the car of songs we loved to get to know each other a little better and that’s what made me appreciate country music more than I ever had before. The next day I went to his Rugby 7's tournament, a pool party, and a concert at The Fox. All followed by church, brunch and a Game of Thrones party on Sunday. We spent nearly every single day together since that first week and it has been a magical dream ever since.

After searching for my entire life, I knew that Tash was “The One”. I wanted the proposal to be as monumental as Tash is to me. Through all of our conversations, Tash made it clear that she wanted three things, a private proposal, a photographer to capture the moment, and an engagement “anniversary” that did not fall on a birthday or holiday. I planned a trip to Riveria Maya. Being detail oriented, I had the itinerary booked. I planned every last detail, making sure to note that Tash would want the engagement to occur before our jungle excursion had the opportunity to mess up her hair. Despite planning, things began to fall apart as soon as we arrived to the resort. First, it was not just raining, but a torrential downpour. Upon check-in, the young front desk associate, who spoke very broken English, immediately congratulated us on our “engogment” (when booking, I requested champagne and flowers for our surprise engagement that would be taking place). I immediately tried to relay his mistake to him without tipping off Tash. I realized then that the surprise was ruined. Defeated, I desperately wanted to salvage the trip. My plan remained the same; propose on a private sunset cruise. The concierge reassured me that the cruise was private and had a photographer on board. Essentially, we ended up on a party barge, including none other than a DJ with a top-knot, who passed out tequila shots and wanted to know if we were “ready to party”? Not exactly the romantic cruise that I planned and so I debated on proposing later that night, meaning there would be no photographer. In a brief moment of the sunset peaking through the clouds, I decided to go for it. I found someone to take our picture, got down on one knee, and tried to go through the list of things that I had rehearsed to say. Eventually, I became too emotional and couldn’t continue. Although the moment was not what I planned, Tash said “YES”! We were finally engaged, and that was what mattered. #TheFutureIsKarrs