We met online in July 2022—the same day Christina moved to Austin—on a "trendy" little app called Hinge. After a flurry of messages, we decided to meet at Cosmic Coffee. What felt like a quick 30 minutes of talking and sipping drinks somehow turned into five wonderful hours. Our “brief” first date led to a second one at a park, for a "show-and-tell" themed date. We shared books we were reading, favorite trinkets, stories, and Vernon even got a tarot reading from Christina. The night ended with an abrupt and surprising sprinkler going off, but another long, effortless conversation worked its magic. From that moment on, we were hooked.

In April of 2025 we flew out to San Diego for our friends wedding, and decided to make a coastal California road trip out of the adventure. Over the span of a week we explored Venice Beach, Los Angeles, the Sequoias, Yosemite, Mariposa, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco. Yosemite had been a park we wanted to visit for many years prior to meeting, and seemed like the perfect place to include in our road trip. The day of the proposal we hiked around Bridal Veil Falls, getting absolutely soaked from walking through the mist coming off the rocks of the waterfalls. Though breathtaking, that was not the sight of a romantic proposal. From there we set off towards 'Artist Way' trailhead, an appropriately named proposal spot. Making quick work of the hike we finally found ourselves secluded with a beautiful view of Yosemite Valley (also the exact photo on Christina's 2025 Vision Board). After taking in the scenery, Vernon decided it was a perfect place to pop the question, and capture the moment. Tripod setup, and camera remote in hand, we looked over the valley and embraced. As Christina looked at Vernon she took in the scenery saying "wow, this is such a magical moment". With a cheesy grin on his face, Vernon replied "it truly is", and got down on one knee, asking Christina to spend her life with him. After brief exclamations of "oh my god" and "are you serious"; Christina was able to literally scream "YES" from the top of a mountain, overlooking scenery both of us had only dreamt of. After a few blissful hours atop Yosemite Valley, we left to go watch the Pink supermoon in the woods of Mariposa. For two lunar lovers, there could not have been a better evening to celebrate our proposal.