Jason’s Perspective: I was a barista at Starbucks when I first met Mikayla. I remember asking for her name, because that is nearly the whole job of the person working the register. I then saw her go over to one of our tiny black tables by the large window and start working on something. I vividly remember the face she made while concentrating on what she was working on. Her eyebrows furrowed and slanted down, and she was leaning over her laptop. We started talking and went on a few dates before we officially started dating. Life got in the way and it simply wasn’t in the cards for us at the time, so we stopped dating in June of 2019. Fast forward to February of 2021. I reached back out to Mikayla to ask if I could see her again, and to my surprise, she agreed. A little more time passes, but we stay in contact. In June of 2021, I asked her if she’d be willing to pick up some food for me, since I was working at the bar of her parents’ neighborhood golf course. Shortly after, she invited me to her parents’ 4th of July party, which would be on the 3rd. That night, she agreed to be my girlfriend once again, and my life with her has been the greatest my life has ever been. Mikayla’s Perspective: It was the spring semester of my freshman year of college, and I went to a Starbucks close by to do homework. Jason was the barista who took my order. I remember thinking he was attractive, but I didn’t think much more of it. To my surprise, we managed to get in contact a couple weeks afterwards and went on three dates before deciding to make it official. It was the day he came to see my group symposium presentation at our college that I had to do for one of my intro history courses. Unfortunately, life events got in the way, and it wasn’t the right timing for Jason to be in a relationship. We broke up after two months of dating in June 2019. A few weeks after we broke up, I decided to give him what was supposed to be his birthday gifts from an Italy trip I took right before we broke up. We weren’t mad at each other, and we ended the final meeting with a kiss, and Jason said he hoped the life events standing in our way would go away soon (I supposed so we could get back together). Fast forward two years to February 2021, and he reached out to me again. Things were better in both of our lives. We hung out a couple of times, and then I grabbed lunch for him while he bartended for my parents’ neighborhood country club. He asked me if I wanted to date again, and I told him that I wanted to think about it for a little bit before jumping back in. After a few days, I decided to give us another chance and invited him to my parents Fourth of July party. We’ve been together now for over two years, and I couldn’t imagine my life without him. He’s my biggest cheerleader and an amazing partner to have at my side.

Jason had been planning to propose to Mikayla for months, and had shown the ring to just about everyone except for Mikayla and their parents or siblings. Shortly following their two-year anniversary of dating, they traveled to Denver for Jason’s birthday and to see the University of Colorado-Boulder campus as an option for Mikayla’s graduate school. On the third day of their trip, July 30th, Jason and Mikayla went to the Red Rocks, and after coming upon a beautiful clearing almost a mile and a half into their hike, Jason asked their friends to take some pictures of them. Then Jason got down to fix his shoelaces, and after he was done, he didn’t come back up. Instead, he pulled out a wooden box, opened it up, showing the ring, prompting a lot of excited laughter. Jason then asked Mikayla if she would marry him, and Mikayla said “yes!”