August 15, 2012– The Day We Met: It was a warm summer day in Atlanta. The sun was shining and Ernst and Young (“EY”) was welcoming its newest class of anointed accountants. Mary Katharine and I were both part of that class and eager to start the next chapter of our lives. Fresh off a 4.0 GPA and top accolades from the University of Florida, MK was ready to take on her next challenge. She was chosen to spend a year at EY’s national office in the Big Apple. I was slated to work on the AT&T audit in Atlanta - a prestigious position with the impossible task of trying to find out if those extra charges on your phone bill were really legit. Two paths to greatness momentarily crossed at training in Atlanta where we met for the first time. Our interactions were limited – a quick hello, how are you, and yes, the Vols are that much better than the Gators – but always included a laugh and that feeling of enjoyment. Little did we know that week would change our lives. Early 2019– (Re)Connection: After a freezing winter of 50-degree weather in Atlanta, we made it to late February and Atlanta was once again earning its “Hotlanta” nickname. MK was out with her friends at a local bar scouting the crowd for, you guessed it, a cute dog she could pet. She soon saw her friend Rajiv, who started with us at EY and was a mutual friend of ours. The two caught up like any old friends do, talking politics. Just kidding! It was the standard What have you been up to? Are you dating anyone? conversation, with the last question being very important for me. See, Rajiv and I had stayed in contact over the years and less than a week prior to his interaction with MK, we had grabbed lunch for the first time in over a year and had a similar conversation. Fresh on his mind, Rajiv reached into his quiver, pulled out his phone and shot me the text “Do you know who you should call? Mary Katharine. Here’s her number”. With everything to gain, I did, and we had our first date at Folk Art on April 7th.

April 9th, 2021 It was a Friday and we had just celebrated our two-year dating anniversary a few days earlier (I found out early on that those are a thing). We were working from her condo and looking forward to a long relaxing weekend in Atlanta. Or so she thought… Or so I thought she thought... We had planned to go for a walk later that evening with the hopes of stopping by a brewery for a well-earned beverage on the way home, one of our favorite traditions that was started during the pandemic. The plan was to leave around 6:00pm. Thinking I was clever, I sprung into action suggesting that we deviate from our typical route, and head to Piedmont Park instead as “a few friends were going to be there”. She said that would be fun and immediately proceeded to do her hair and makeup, which was odd considering it was supposed to be just our standard Friday evening walk... 6:00pm arrived and we headed to the park. On the way I got a text from the alleged friends we were meeting ‘letting me know they were running late’. In reality, it was the photographer I had hired letting me know that someone was in “my spot” and to stall. We arrived at the park and headed out on our walk. A few detours and some frantic texts back and forth with the photographer later, we arrived at the Midtown reflection area overlooking Lake Clara Meer and the Atlanta skyline. After a not so smooth, “This place looks cool, let’s check it out” comment, I turned towards Mary Katharine, got down on one knee, and said many things including those four words, “Will you marry me?” A yes, a hug, and a few kisses later we were engaged! On cloud nine, we called our parents and my brother and then headed back to Park Tavern where we were met by a few of our closest friends to celebrate, cheers to forever, and drink to the ZINKS!