December 11, 2017 I had just moved back to Arizona from Washington, D.C. My long time friend Alex invited me to a holiday party, stating that while he knew the party wasn't my scene, that I should really come because the host was a good friend of his, who I should really meet. The host turned out to be Kevin. We met in the backyard, next to the grill. Enthusiastically, he told me it was great to finally meet me, he had heard a lot about me, and would love to chat more, but he had hosting duties. Not to be deterred, Alex and his wife Alli (another great friend of ours), spent the next year finding reasons to get us in the same room. Eventually, they got us to attend the worst match up of the 2018 NFL season: the Detroit Lions vs. Arizona Cardinals. The game was awful- but it gave us plenty of time to finally get to know one another! We all agreed to hang out on New Year's Eve and shortly after midnight, Kevin asked if he could take me out to dinner and we shared our first kiss.

January 25, 2020...that brief, blissful part of 2020 before everyone's lives changed. Kevin and I were headed up to the Verde Valley region to check out some wineries and have a night away. As we were getting ready, Kevin looked at me and said, "I'm going to do you a solid, I'm going to shave today." If you know Kevin, you know he thinks shaving on the weekends is sacrilege. At that moment, I knew he was going to propose. We spent the day sampling wines and getting massages at one of the wineries- a perfect Theresa day! Kevin then suggested we check out the vineyard for sale we saw on the way in. We drive up, and Kevin parks the car in a driveway down the street from the vineyard and tells me that this is where we are staying that night. The home was gorgeous with floor to ceiling windows, mountain views, and a gorgeous wraparound porch. Kevin suggested we watch the sunset with a glass of wine. As the sun set, Kevin began to say all the wonderful things any woman wants to hear from the guy she wants to marry. I saw him reach into his jacket for the ring. At the last second, he stopped, and began to talk about Sadie/Carl, my surly 13 year old cat. I laughed it off. It seemed like he was just about to propose when he suddenly went back to talking about the cat and I wondered if he was messing with me. About 3 minutes later, Kevin was down on one knee, saying he thought it was time to make it official and asked if I would marry him. I think my response was "Oh my God, yes!". He asked me if I'd even looked at the ring yet (I hadn't- but it was perfect). Kevin then told me that while he got nervous the first time he attempted to propose, he deliberately stopped proposing the second time, because he hated the song that was on and refused to get engaged to it. He waited until the song was over and as Pandora luck would have it, the next song was "Maybe We Should Fall in Love" by my favorite band, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers.