Rarely does one get an opportunity to hear these stories from the male perspective. But Zatha asked, and I said yes. On a dark October evening in the year 2013 AD, the 13th year of the third millennium, two unassuming Homo Sapiens walked into a bar. One was of a primitive nature whose wardrobe consisted of Goodwill t-shirts, sweat shorts, and socks with sandals; the other, a glowing, fashionable, grade-A, dime piece with long blonde locks flowing down her back. They didn’t arrive together, nor would they leave together (☹) but they would make a substantial impression upon each other throughout that evening on that intrepid, sexual battlefield they call ACME. Anyone who has been to the town of Annapolis, USA, (home of our alma mater the United States Naval Academy), knows that ACME Bar & Grill is a shady, disruptive, shit show full of pillaging pirates breaking glasses and knocking each other’s skulls together. That being said … on this night, the impossible happened. Two humans made a legitimate romantic connection in the most absurd bar since the Prohibition. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, however, for the Neanderthal and his Princess. Their bond was forged in the furnace of affliction. Zatha's brother Hans, the shining, vibrant, gravitational core of Zatha’s life, was killed in a skateboarding accident in 2014, not long after our epic meeting. A relationship that began with excitement and happiness was immediately seasoned with the most tragic thing that can happen in a person’s life. I won’t pursue the details in this medium but I will say that loss does not get easier with time. There will always be a void in Zatha left by the death of Hans, a void that cannot be filled by any amount of time. I hope that someday I will be able to fill at least a portion of it with love.

Our next challenge included three deployments and a four-hour drive every seven days. Over the course of four years since graduating USNA we have spoken almost every day, but we’ve only actually been in physical contact for approximately 25 percent of our time as a couple. Whatever voice in your head that’s telling you we don’t even know what it’s like to live together … tell it to shut the fuck up. Some people say that distance brings people closer together, which is actually bullshit. But with that separation we have come to realize the value in every precious second. It has taught us that the time we have together is finite, whether we live together or not. Every moment spent together, or apart, is precious time that should be consumed as such. During the year 2017 AD, we served on simultaneous deployments. Zatha was in Romania while I, Matteo, was floating in the Gulf of Aden off the southern coast of Yemen. Prior to deployment I had asked her family for their daughter’s hand in marriage, receiving a resounding yes (after one hell of a toast, followed by a celebratory cocktail hour). The one problem was that I had yet to acquire a ring before my abrupt departure from the greatest country on earth into the now not-so-Fertile Crescent. The thing about being on a ship is that there are no jewelry stores. So it was up to Empress Vicki (aka, my mom) to help me design the perfect finger bling for the perfect new Princess. After slaving away in the mines of Roanoke, VA and sending thousands of pictures (which is impressive because she is DEFINITELY not a millennial) together we came up with the perfect rock and thing that holds the rock and thing that goes on the finger after the wedding.

So, throughout six months of deployment, there was a lot of time to sit and think about how I’m going to propose. Naturally, I came up with a ton of really great ideas; however, I didn’t plan on Zatha not wanting to go literally anywhere at all when we finally got back from deployment. Understandably, as previously stated, she likes to make the most of the time we have together and in this case that meant attaching ourselves to Virginia Beach and North Carolina. In no way does this downplay the magic of the proposal. It was a calm October night in Virginia Beach Towne Center. The fragrance of love filled our noses as we sauntered through the crisp evening air. As we arrived at the restaurant, we noticed a solitary man, sitting at the bar drinking to his sins. Not another soul was present to occupy our romantic milieu. With the ring in my front left breast pocket, I desperately searched for that enchanted moment to intertwine our love ad infinitum. As we satiated ourselves with the finest American cuisine, my heart began to beat precipitously underneath the infinity stone within my breast pocket. Our feast concluded and we were to retire to my chalet. Our footsteps upon the cobblestone could be heard for miles. The streets were abandoned, fashioning an ambiance of a world unexplored. We passed a familiar fountain nestled between buildings that seemed to stretch to the constellations. Orion himself could not have imagined a more picturesque night. As we sauntered toward it, the Princess was overcome with desire to capture the moment. She set the picture timer on her mobile device and walked toward a street lamp to set it up. As we alighted upon the base of the fountain for the spontaneous photo, I, without hesitation, reached into my left breast pocket, knelt before Zatha, pulled out my heart, and gave it to my Princess. Forever.