In 2015, we both accepted summer jobs as Orientation Leaders at the University of Rhode Island (RHODY RHODY RHODY). Matt was a first year leader, and Vic was the program's coordinator. Vic was instantly attracted to Matt, but in keeping up a professional persona, decided to avoid him like the plague. Eventually, this attraction caught up to us when our mutual friend, Lucio, decided to make it his mission to bring us together. He took advantage of any opportunity to bring up the other's shared (but secret) feelings, and to encourage any social interaction he could. On the last night of Orientation, we stopped pretending there wasn't a spark between us and decided to go out on a date. We proceeded to spend the rest of our summer together, which, little did we know, was the precursor to a lifetime of adventures.

Matt had been making plans for the proposal for a long time. He had a lovely weekend in Breckenridge, CO planned for us, which as grad students, was a welcomed break. Then, the pandemic hit, and we had to cancel all of our weekend plans. Looking on the bright side of things, Matt rearranged our plans to be a day trip, where we would complete a challenging hike together. The morning of the hike it was snowing quite a bit, but we decided to take our chances. Well, the road conditions got worse and worse, and Vic (who was driving) wasn't a fan of the sledding her car was doing. We decided it was a no-go. Matt, who was on a mission to make it happen, found a new hike for us to complete. When we arrived it was a blizzard, but just as it calmed down, we found a quiet spot off the trail to sit. Matt got down on one knee surrounded by pine trees freshly dusted in snow and asked the best question Vic had ever heard! Lots of ugly/happy crying followed.

January 2015: We met July 2015: First date October 2015: Vic moves to Nashville (we do long distance for one year!) August 2016: Trip to Sedona, AZ (one of our favorite places) October 2016: Matt moves to Nashville April 2018: Trip to San Francisco, CA May 2018: Trip to Denver, CO July 2018: Adopt Cannoli <3 November 2018: Trip to Asheville, NC July 2019: Move to Denver March 2020: Engaged!