Our many shared interests are what make our relationship vibrant, meaningful, and effortless. But it was our love of music that ultimately brought us together one night in October 2013. Through the invitation of a mutual friend, we first met on the night of the Desaparecidos concert in Chicago. Little did we know that concert would change our lives—that you could meet one person on a seemingly random night with whom you’d want to spend the rest of your life. But geographical distance complicated our budding relationship with Audrey living in Springfield, Missouri, at the time and me in Chicago. But that didn’t stop us. Long nights of video chatting, endless text message conversations, and phone calls that bled into the early morning hours dissolved the miles separating us until Audrey moved to Chicago in 2014 to pursue a Psy.D in Clinical Psychology. Since then, the days we’ve spent apart have been few and far between as we get ready to create more memories and spend the rest of our lives together. -J

In August 2017, we vacationed to Italy with my family. After a twenty-four hour stint in Rome, we traveled south to the Amalfi Coast and Sorrento. After dinner one evening at a seaside restaurant at the Bay of Sorrento, we walked along the stone seawall, taking in the scent of sea salt on the breeze and the setting sun shimmering on the Tyrrhenian Sea. For a while we stood there staring at the endless sea and its waves reflecting the sun’s golden sheen, before I took Aud by the hand, placed the ring inside it, and asked her to marry me. I didn’t plan for the time or the place, nor the beautiful seascape that unfurled before us, but the moment—being there with the love of my life and sharing the sunset on a cool evening in Italy—just felt right. -J