It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon and I was debating if I made the right choice of saying yes to a date with a guy I just met. So, in true Filipino fashion, I was about 20 minutes late to our first date (sorry Will). I was worried about how the date would go but it surprisingly felt like I’ve always known him and we were just reconnecting over coffee – it felt right. However, with him leaving in two months for training, I knew it wasn’t realistic to think that we would last. Months passed and his training date kept getting pushed, our time together, extended repeatedly. That’s when I thought that what we had wasn’t going to be a short summer romance, but something more long term. Our next few dates that followed were quite interesting – our second date was a gym date which included meeting the family afterwards (he says it wasn’t intentional, but we’ll never know) and our third date was skydiving. The six months we spent together was more than enough to make me realize that I love him very much and he does too. So when he asked me to move to CO after his training concluded, I did not hesitate to say yes. I had already moved halfway across the world, what’s one more move across the country? From a skeptical yes to a first date to a solid yes to moving to Colorado, it has truly been an interesting adventure with Will. We got our first apartment together, spent our first holidays away from family, navigated adult life, learned more about each other and of course, I terrorized him about when he would propose to me. Fast forward to August 2025, when he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him at one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, I said yes and I'm so excited to spend this and every lifetime with him.

When Lei and I started dating in July 2023, the USSF had me scheduled to leave Virginia in September. So, we had about eight weeks to decide whether long distance was a bold romantic leap or the kind of decision you later describe as “character building.” Luckily, my training got delayed, which gave us more time together, and gave me more time to realize that Lei wasn’t just fun to be around. She was someone I could talk to about anything: life, family, the future, and all the deep conversations you don’t usually have that early unless the connection is real. That’s when I knew she was the one. After spending over half a year apart, I asked her to move to Colorado with me. She said yes without hesitation, which still amazes me considering she had zero contacts out here and jumped in with more confidence than I had during the three‑hour saga of assembling our TV stand. So, we got our first apartment, explored Colorado, and went on so many coffee dates that I’m convinced she can sense a café within a five-mile radius. Watching her start fresh in a new state, steady and smiling through it all (and never missing a chance to remind me she’s the funny one), made me fall for her even more. By early 2025, I started working on an engagement ring for her. There was a slight delay because the jeweler I was working with accidentally blowtorched his hand (rude). Luckily, he healed up (enough) and we were back on track. Once the ring was finished, I asked her mom for her blessing and planned a surprise trip to Aspen. On August 16th, at Maroon Bells, I asked Lei to marry me. Spoilers: she said yes.

After a year in our one-bedroom apartment, the kind of place where doing laundry required strategic choreography, we finally decided it was time for more space. We found a home that technically didn’t exist yet, unless you count a concrete pad and a very optimistic blueprint. We took the leap, and over the next several months we watched that slab grow into a genuinely lovely house complete with a three-car garage, which made Will unreasonably happy. From the moment we moved into that apartment in September 2024 until our house was finished in September 2025, life came at us fast. Lei went from teaching ballet, to working the front desk at One Medical, to becoming the Program Assistant for the Canadian Forces Support Unit (NORAD) at Peterson SFB, all while continuing her International Studies and Foreign Affairs degree at Georgetown. Will spent early 2025 away on a military exercise, came home, and later promoted to 1st Lieutenant. He stepped into a Crew Commander role managing two satellite constellations, which sounds glamorous until you factor in the night shifts and the number of protein bars eaten over a keyboard. He’s also been wrapping up a master’s in Space Systems Engineering through Johns Hopkins University, because apparently 2025 was the year neither of us believed in sleep. But the sweetest moments weren’t about work at all. Both Lei’s sister and Will’s sister welcomed babies, doubling our aunt and uncle status. By the time we finally moved into our new home, we felt like we’d lived an entire chapter of life in just twelve months. And then November 2025 arrived with the biggest surprise yet: Baby Kirby is officially joining the family in July 2026! Somewhere in the middle of all this, Will also bought a Dodge Challenger, the most practical family car imaginable, obviously. Nothing says “we’re ready for parenthood” like a two-door muscle car that requires advanced geometry to fit a stroller. But hey, it was still an upgrade from sharing one Corolla. Looking back, the past few years have been busy, humbling, joyful, and full of grace. And now, with Baby Kirby on the way, we’re more excited than ever for what comes next.