Jim's Perspective: Mandy was the most beautiful woman at our medical school, and super smart, sitting in the front of each lecture. Meanwhile, I sat in the back, trying to keep up with the lecturer, and failing miserably. I certainly had never spoken to her, and didn't have near the courage to, until I saw her play dodgeball. "Play" dodgeball. Being a hyper-competitive person, and over-confident in my dodgeball abilities, I was first out on my team, playing just before her team took the court to play another after us. Sitting in the stands, I saw her, hiding in the back of the court, behind the rest of her team, heals just in front of the out-of-bounds line, looking terrified of the game she had found herself in. One by one, the rest of the players on her team got out until it was just her and the full other team. Having watched her for a while from the stands, I saw her looking so scared standing on the back line, panicked as balls whizzing past her, I started laughing when she starting just kicking the balls back across the court to the other team, too scared to throw one. I thought it was so cute. The next day, I saw her outside one of our classes, looking super cute up close (I hadn't really seen her up close before). I decided I had to talk to her. So in true elementary school fashion, I said something like, "so it looked like you were having fun out there playing dodgeball yesterday. I can tell you practice". This started our first conversation. Later, after several weeks of chatting on Facebook Messenger, I asked her on a walk in the mountains. She said she had to study. About a week later I asked her to join me to a get together our medical school was having. Again she said she was staying home to study. On my third attempt, I was just leaving campus around 7PM and I saw her parked, studying in her car as always, overlooking the beautiful Cumberland mountain sunset. I pulled up next to her car, rolled down the window of my old 93' Ford truck, and asked if she would join to get some ice cream. She said she was studying. I offered to get bring her back some. No luck. But a week later, after the upcoming exam had passed, I got a text on my phone saying "Hey, so about that hike. Still want to go? Maybe bring some wine to make it official (a date) ?". I was ecstatic. She had asked me out, and I was over the moon. A few days later, after a great hike through the Cumberland mountains with Mandy, we sat in the park, had ice cream and wine, and talked genuinely about life, our pasts, and our hopeful futures. My best memory of that hike was her laughing so hard she blew a snot bubble, that mortified her when she realized I had seen it. But Bubbles and I still had a great rest of the hike. Mandy's Perspective: I remember the first time I saw Jim. We were on a break between lectures on the first week of medical school and the main atrium was pretty dimly lit. We made eye contact and I remember thinking wow, that guy has beautiful eyes. Fast forward to the college Olympics....Jim watched me embarrass myself during a volleyball competition (my team placed 3rd, and Jim's was out pretty early....that's why he was watching from the stands lol). Apparently, I made an impression on him and he used it as an opener to start a conversation with me before one of our labs. A couple of weeks later we went on our first date, a hike in the Cumberland mountains. That night was so romantic filled with wine, ice cream, and so many laughs. I fell hard for this man who quickly became my best friend and the rest is history.

Mandy's Perspective: I was in absolute SHOCK. My sister was in town and I somehow got talked into taking her on a tour of the hospital where I work. Along the way, we ran into some of my friends and Jim's friends who cleverly led me up to the helipad of our hospital. Nowhere along the way did I suspect a single thing. On our way up to the roof, I was texting Jim who I thought was on a shift in the Neuro ICU. I even sent him a selfie of all of us in the elevator. The minute those rooftop doors opened up and I saw the love of my life in the distance looking so damn handsome in his blue suit, I had no words other than "are you serious?". lol ....and YES!! Best day ever! Jim's Perspective: So I had been trying to think of something unique to do for a few years, but hadn't figured out exactly what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted it to be as unique as her, but with my/our schedules, I was very limited if it was going to involve other people. So I enlisted the help of her friends and my friends/co-residents. Then one eeeeearly morning, I was working a night shift, and heard about how to get up on the helipad. Once I figured out the secret elevator code, got up there, and saw the sun coming up over the beautiful view of Cleveland, I knew I would have to figure out a way to propose to her up there. The next day I called her friends. They loved the idea and were all in. Later, I heard from Mandy that she was thinking of having her sister (Teresa) up from Florida to stay for a few days with us. I immediately, secretly called Terry. I also enlisted the help of a few good friends in my neurology residency class. A few months later, after a trip to Florida to get the ring, the day came, and it was going to be tough to get all the people in place to somehow get her up to the rooftop of our hospital, on her day off, with her sister in town, and her not suspect anything. The plan was on. Terry was supposed to ask for a tour of the hospital after they got their nails done. Then Mandy, her friends, and Terry were supposed to "randomly" meet my friends on the bottom floor of the hospital where they were supposed somehow persuade them all to come up the helipad by telling them they had just found out the secret elevator code. I had gone home after work, gotten dressed up, come back to the hospital and was hiding out in the neurology team room, keeping in contact with them all via a group text. Then I got the text "we're in the lobby and headed up soon". To this point, I had been texting Mandy that I was having a super busy day at work, so she didn't have any idea. I hopped in the elevator and put in the super top secret helipad floor code, took the elevator up to the roof, walked out to the helipad, and waited there in the center of the helipad, heart pounding, shaking, and hoping a medivac helicopter wasn't on its way. Two minutes later I saw her, standing in the open doorway, looking like the rest of my life. I started crying. I had planned so much to this point but hadn't planned what I would say when the moment finally came. To this day, I don't remember what I said, but I know she said yes, and I couldn't believe it. I'm the luckiest man in the world.