We’re getting married!

Katie and Derek first met at work at the GP6 office building while taking a training class. Derek remembers that Katie was wearing a yellow sweater (like her sunny smile). Katie was confused because a colleague told her someone recently joined Drilling from Illinois, but he really had just finished his Master's at Purdue. Unsurprisingly, they raced each other all throughout the WellView class.

Derek and Katie broke up shortly after she moved to Norway for an expat assignment. He was rotating to Chad at the time, and the timing and distance and commitment all weren’t quite working out. They didn’t see each other much but randomly emailed, IM’ed at work, and talked some over the years.

Katie called Derek and told him she’d been thinking about him (especially after seeing him on a work Zoom meeting). He was working a 28 / 28 rotational schedule to Brazil, she was working the same schedule in Russia, and they started catching up on the past few years and dreams for the future.

Derek asked Katie if she wanted to go check out the new restaurant, Flora, across Buffalo Bayou in the old The Dunlavy space. They walked over on the most perfect pre-Spring Houston day that was sunny and 72 and breezy (although Derek had to wear his puffer to hide the ring box) and ate tacos outside. Derek found a quiet moment on the walk home on the bridge across the bayou to ask Katie to marry him. Neither of them can remember exactly what the other said… but Katie definitely said yes!