Doug & Maria first met at a Christmas party at Doug's house in 2018. Both of their younger siblings (Brad & Megs) went to the same school and carpooled together. Through carpooling, the Rouse's and Mutka's became family friends, and Doug and Maria knew of each other. Maria did not initially want to go to the Christmas party, and she was not at all feeling encouraged to go by her mom's not-so-subtle hints that there might be a cute guy there. Eventually, Maria was persuaded to go to the party and upon meeting Doug was surprised to learn that he would soon be moving to Western Massachusetts, where Maria was in college at the time, for a new job. Over the next few months, the two become friends and looked forward to going on hikes and exploring Western Mass together. It turned out that Maria's mom was right - Doug was pretty cute and fun to hang out with, even if he could be a bit overzealous about his knowledge of Lord of the Rings on their first movie date. Their relationship lasted and thrived through multiple long-distance stints from Montana to North Carolina, Massachusetts to North Carolina, and everything in between. And the rest is history.