The fact that Britt and I met is a miracle. Britt grew up in a small town in Michigan, went to Michigan State, and was in a relationship when she moved to Colorado. I grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis, went to Mizzou, and was traveling each week for work when I moved to Colorado. On top of that, I was preparing to take a year-long work assignment in Australia. Enter 2020, and the pandemic quickly grounded me in Denver and nixed any hopes of working in Australia. Meanwhile (and fortunately for me), Britt’s relationship didn’t work out, but she decided to stay in Denver and enjoy the 300 days of sunshine and mild winters. Enter Kris and Brenna, to whom we are forever indebted to. Kris is my former manager, a friend, and someone who I deeply trust and respect, and Brenna is an extremely kind, fun, and genuine Cath lab nurse who was working with Britt at Denver Health. One night I got a text from Kris asking if I’d be interested in going on a date with one of Brenna’s friends. Trusting that Kris would never steer me wrong, I immediately said yes without thinking to ask any follow-up questions (I would later have a brief moment of panic about this decision when Britt was talking about “Chloe”, who I mistook for a child, not a husky). A few weeks later, I tried to play it cool as the four of us met at Historian’s Ale House. Luckily, we played euchre and, since my skills speak for themselves, I knew Britt was falling for me then. Fast-forward to our first date at Uno Mas Taqueria, Britt and I bonded over travel and adventure, food, and Bob Ross. As I went home that night, I was giddy with joy as I knew I found the one. (Plus… she already had an Epic pass!)

Jesse’s side of the story is tough to beat but there are a few key differences. Let’s start from the beginning. Those of you who know how close I am to my family would have thought it crazy if I ever lived anywhere else aside from Michigan, near them. That all changed when I was invited to a cardiology conference in Beaver Creek through work in 2017. I felt this pull and sense of home being in the mountains. It felt like I needed to be there but I wasn’t quite sure why. A few years later, I was living in Colorado alone, with a freshly broken heart with my only local friends being a few people I met at work a few months before. I went back and forth about heading back home. It would have been easier but I remembered that feeling I had the very first time I visited and knew I had to stick it out. I did the dating apps without success, traveled alone, and began my journey toward self-love. One day at work, Brenna (a traveler on my unit who became my friend, Denver support, & work wife) mentioned Kris had a friend she’d met a handful of times that she thought I should meet. “He seems really sweet and he’s super cute.” Fast forward a few months later and several more horrible dates, I agreed to meet this guy. We met at an Irish pub for a double date to play euchre with Brenna & Kris. Jesse made several questionable euchre calls making me reconsider things. Jesse also put off this very confident and overly cocky facade which is hilarious if you know him because he’s not like that at all. Even though his euchre needed some work and he presented with a false, cocky bravado, with some coaxing from Brenna, I agreed to go out with him again. I'm so thankful I did. We arranged to go out for happy hour and ended up missing the mark by an hour. We spent the whole time laughing and having the best conversation. My initial first impression began to shift as I began to see how kind his heart was and how much we had in common. Ya’ll know the rest. We haven’t stopped laughing, adventuring, & truly living since. Moral of the story, it is a miracle we met and I know now that my intuition was guiding me. Trust your intuition. And your friends. Mine led me home.

We closed on our first house in May 2022 but couldn’t move in until July 15th. Thus, our real estate agent, Elise, had us come to the house on July 14th so she could film a “first look” of Chloe seeing her new backyard (to understand this, you have to know that Elise is AMAZING, and also a bit Instagram famous). Low and behold, as we walked onto the back patio, we were met with rose petals, a table with champagne, a surprise weekend itinerary, photos of us, and romantic music playing (along with Kelsey - Elise’s colleague - and a film crew). When Britt turned around, I was on my knee, ready to recite the 60-second monologue I had rehearsed for weeks. It’s fair to say time slowed to a crawl, and we both blacked out at this point, but I know I asked her to marry me, and she said yes! While Britt says she was on to me about the proposal, I know she didn’t see the second surprise coming. Unbeknownst to Britt, the reason I was being so adamant about us packing everything up was that I had hired movers to move us while we escaped for a weekend getaway that included dinner in Idaho Springs, a couples bed and breakfast in the mountains, and skiing down St. Mary’s Glacier! (Also, a huge shoutout to Alex and Alli for tending to Chloe and the movers for us.)

We are so excited to celebrate with all of our friends and family in one place while also sharing our love for Colorado!