Ours was not your quintessential meet-cute. It more resembles one of those romantic comedies or dramas where the guy and girl don't really like each other at first. Like Pride and Prejudice! Sort of... We worked for the same company for several years and, for most of that time, I thought he didn't like me. Back then (2017) I only knew him as Robert - the guy who leads our dev teams and always seems mildly annoyed when I ping him on security and compliance issues. We didn't have much cause to interact at work anyway and we were both in other relationships at the time, so we hardly ever spoke. Fast forward a few years to October 2020. Our individual lives and the entire world had drastically changed. It was the worst of Covid times. With the pandemic in full swing, we were both living our socially distant lives - me in Austin, he in Dallas. And, unbeknownst to either of us, we had both been grappling with separations/divorce. Then one day after a rare work call, we had, for the first time, a heart-to-heart conversation about life. We talked for a long time and realized we had a lot in common. This was also when he accused me of being "anti-social," claiming I always sat in the corner, wearing a hat, and never talked to anyone. Hogwash. "I talk to everyone," I said, "I just thought you didn't like me, so I avoided you." In spite of that dispute (which remains to this day), a friendship was born. And it continued to grow stronger each day in the months thereafter. There was something there... Still, life has its own ideas on plans and timing. We both had our individual journeys ahead of us to rebuild ourselves from our previous lives, and those paths took us in different directions for a time. I spent a year traveling the United States and beyond trying to reinvent my life, while he was sorting through and rebuilding his own. We didn’t talk much during this time...but we never fully lost sight of each other. It was in the beginning of 2022 that fate stepped in, setting in motion a series of events and timelines that would merge our paths together, and it seemed that the planets were finally aligning in our favor. Both being in a much better place in our lives, we started to talk more frequently again. Then one day on a whim, we decided to go play pool after work and - that was it! We have been inseparable ever since.

In January of this year Kekoa had to go to Hamburg, Germany for work. For those of you who don't already know, I'm from Germany and have family there so I was more than happy to tag along. Perks of working remotely :) It was a very short trip and we both had to work most of the time. However, we did have one weekend off and we took that opportunity to visit my aunt Birgit who lives in Weingarten which is located in southern Germany. We took the 6 hour, scenic train ride from Hamburg down to my aunt where she collected us and graciously hosted us for the weekend. Weather around this time of year is typically very cold and snowy or rainy in Germany, but on Sunday the 29th of January the forecast was showing more than decent weather, so Birgit took us on a road trip down to Lake Constance which offers beautiful views of the Alps. We took a ride on the Pfänderbahn up the snow-covered mountain in Lochau, Austria and spent the day enjoying the spectacular views. Atop the mountain we took in the sights, had lunch, drank Glühwein, and were merry...and I honestly had no idea what was about to happen... We were still on the mountain when Birgit asked if we were interested in taking a drive around the lake on the way back to her place, to which I replied, "sure!" and we started to make our way back to the Pfänderbahn for our ride back down the mountain. This is where things took a turn because, as we approached the cable car, Kekoa suddenly grabbed my hand and said "Wait! We can't leave yet" and proceeded to hastily lead me back to one of the lookout points where we had previously been. Now I was starting to get suscpcious... This part is a bit of a blur but, after we got to the spot he wanted, I remember him saying something about being very nervous (that made two of us), and the next thing I knew, he dropped to one knee and asked if I would marry him. I couldn't have imagined a more perfect day or scenario for the proposal and I was so grateful that my aunt Birgit was there to celebrate the occasion with us. I will cherish the memories of that day forever. You can see a short video of that day posted on my Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoBq1SBsw7q/?igshid=ZWQyN2ExYTkwZQ==