It was July 2020, the town was dead, and all the downtown young adults were bored silly. Every weekend the question was "What pool are we crashing today?". Fourth of July was just the same. We both had a mutual friend who lived on Mud Island with a great pool. Zach likes to say "it was my pool bod that really caught her eye." Our friends became friends and we all started hanging out on a pretty regular basis. I was excited to meet more downtown friends, but Zach quickly became more than that. The first night we hung out he walked me home and we talked on the phone till he got home to be sure he made it back safely. Next thing I know its 4 AM and we are still just chatting up a storm. He even pretended to be interested in Hamilton to impress me. Around this same time I was expecting my little puppy Blue. He told me it was a dumb name and I thought we were over right then and there. Zach quickly became Blue's dad and the rest is history.

It was a rainy Saturday after Thanksgiving. Paige’s mom (Sherry), sister (Chandler), and grandmother (Peggy) decided to take Paige to go see How the Grinch Stole Christmas at the Orpheum. In typical Paige fashion, she suggested they all wear festive holiday sweaters. Sherry immediately told her no way because they wanted to take “cute family photos”. Under protest, Paige put on a mauve colored button down. She jumped in the car and was met with “that shirt is hideous - here I have a cream sweater you can borrow.” RED FLAG #1. After the show, Paige asked her family what the after show plans were to which Nana responded “you know I haven’t seen the Peabody tree in forever”. RED FLAG #2. They walked to the crowded Peabody lobby to be surprised by the duck master doing his daily March of the Ducks routine. I made my way over to Paige and her family by the tree. As the duck master does his speech, I leaned over to Paige and said “man how long is this gonna take” to which she responded “he does this everyday at 5 this is tradition”. Frustrated I said “well I can’t wait any longer”. He gets down on one knee and Paige starts ugly crying.