Our first date was an early Saturday morning breakfast at a restaurant in downtown Milwaukee, near Brady Street. Nico arrived first, and we were the only two customers in the restaurant the entire time. We filled the silent room with conversation about our families, travel, and our love for skiing and the outdoors. Unbeknownst to Lauren, it was rare for Nico to wake up this early on a weekend. We continued to find time to get to know each other while balancing busy graduate school, work and social calendars. Our love for each other deepened as we cheered on the Milwaukee Bucks, cooked homemade dinners together, danced to Zac Brown Band at Summerfest, and met each other’s family and friends. Together, we weathered a global pandemic, cooked extravagant homemade meals, played endless board games, and took Brady (our dog) on many walks along Lake Michigan. We continued to seek local adventures canoeing along the Wisconsin River, wake surfing on Okauchee Lake, and cherry picking in Door County. It was clear to us both, how well we complimented each other's lives with mutual support and shared values. In 2024, we decided to embark on our biggest adventure yet: road tripping across the United States with Nico working as a travel physical therapist and Lauren working remotely as a telemedicine Nurse Practitioner. While living in Denver, Nico surprised Lauren by proposing to her on the top of the mountain at Arapahoe Basin while skiing with their close friends.