The first time we met was rather uneventful. My parents and I were moving out of our apartment during the hot 2020 summer. Zack, who was friends with my brother-in-law, came by to help us. When he arrived, I was in the kitchen, experiencing an asthma attack, crying, sitting on the floor in a corner, using my nebulizer to give myself a breathing treatment. I very vaguely remember shaking his hand and saying thank you.

The second time we “met” was more memorable. Zack had been participating in a weekly game night with my sister (Caitlin) and brother-in-law (Tony). Caitlin, whom I've always called BB, would always give me a rundown of how the game went. It was through these updates that I started hearing about Zack. One day, BB jokingly told me I should "wife him up." She pointed out how similar we were and thought we'd be perfect for each other. I laughed it off at first, but from then on, he was constantly on my mind. Zack and I would talk in a group chat with our mutual friends and just sort of coexist in the same world. The second time we had actually met in person, was at an assembly. Our friends had arranged to sit together, but my family arrived late and we didn't get a chance to talk beforehand. There was an emergency during the morning session, so I stayed seated during lunch and left right after the afternoon session. Zack did share his mints with us though and we did end up talking a little bit. Zack told me later that this was the day he was able to put my face to a name.

In November, our mutual friends invited us to try a new restaurant. For our group of ten, we only had two small stovetops to cook our own food so everyone had to take turns- and it took forever. Zack ended up sitting at a separate table than our group to cook his own food to help speed things up. On the way home, I texted him, wondering if he felt as stressed as I did, which led me to ask him out for coffee. He said yes, but I wasn't sure if he understood it was a date. Long story short... he didn't realize it was a date, yet he was so anxious that he arrived at the coffee shop an hour early. After talking for several hours over coffee and then parting ways, I ended up texting him, asking if he would be interested in dating- I was too nervous to do it in person. Looking back, I'm glad I asked in that way because knowing me, I probably would have bolted if I had done it face-to-face.

On Sunday, April 21st, my sister and my cousin, who's practically a sister to me made plans to dress up and have a cute "frolic through the woods" photo session. I was having a bad day, and I wasn’t embracing the frolicking vibe, but the girls cheered me on. As we arrived, I was in my own world of self-consciousness, unaware that reservations were needed for this place. Luckily, I missed the near-spoiler when the lady mentioned reservations under "Zack" while I was lost in my thoughts. We took photos and videos in various picturesque spots, eventually finding ourselves at a charming area tree swing surrounded by clover. Following instructions from the girls, I swung on the tree swing as they cheered me on with "slay." Little did I know, "slay" was the cue word, and Zack had begun to emerge from his hiding spot behind a tree when I fell off the swing and into the dirt. Oblivious to his presence, I was focused on the fall while he quickly ducked back down. We have a hilarious video capturing the girls dusting off my back and urging me to give it another go, all of us laughing uncontrollably. Round two went smoother (thankfully without any falls), and that's when Zack delivered a heartfelt speech and asked me to marry him. Overwhelmed by the moment, I missed some of his words, but I saw him trembling as he knelt down nervously. When he asked me to marry him, he opened a wooden box playing "Flower Garden" from "Howl's Moving Castle," revealing the ring inside. He had the box custom-made, my favorite line from the movie etched into the top. He chose this spot to propose because it reminded him of the flower field scene in the movie, where Howl gives Sophie a piece of himself. It was absolutely perfect.