They were both elected to the Region II Regional Executive Board of the National Society of Black Engineers in 2014. They first met in Ann Arbor Michigan during a board meeting. When John first saw Aspen, he excitedly tapped his friend Joy to tell her that Aspen was "bae." Joy nonchalantly responds, "Yeah. I already know." That night, the whole board played Mafia and they joked and called John and Aspen "hubby" and "wifey" because they had the same last name. Oblivious to John's attraction to her, Aspen killed him in Mafia...twice. Despite the jovial hostility, they started dating about two months later, with their first date in Philadelphia... shout out to Elaida helping plan out the perfect surprise first date!

They spent 2 years in a long distance relationship as they each finished undergrad, John in Pittsburgh and Aspen in Philly. Despite efforts to land their first jobs in the same city, John ended up in DC and Aspen in Southern California. They were long(er) distance for a third year before John moved to California to start his master's program. While exploring the area together, they found a favorite spot at Point Vicente in Rancho Palos Verdes.

On April 27th, 2019, they were in the car with their friend Nadjia driving them from Long Beach to Hollywood (which is very much so North). Aspen, who NEVER is aware of cardinal directions, obnoxiously expresses her confusion when we headed south on the freeway. After much debate, Aspen hesitantly stayed quiet even though she "knew" Nadjia was lost. As we were "making our way to Hollywood", we "just happened to stop off" at Point Vicente. With Nadjia taking some "casual photos," John asked Aspen to marry him....the fact that you are reading this, well she said yes. Now as they begin to form an official union, they decided to go back to where their journey together began - Philadelphia. They are excited to return to the City of Brotherly Love to commemorate the start of their forever.