From across a crowded room at the Kill Devil Club in Kansas City, Matthew saw a beautiful woman sitting alone at the KCDC Speaker Dinner. He was concerned that she might not know anyone among the sea of men so prevalent at technology conferences, so being the good, midwestern gentleman that he is, he walked over to introduce himself and make her feel welcome. However, in his haste to introduce himself, he failed to notice that there were a few in-use place settings at the table. Her friends had simply gotten up to grab fresh drinks at the bar, and she was merely holding the group's table. After a brief introduction and exchange of pleasantries, two of her tablemates, also friends of Matthew, returned. Matthew then proceeded to introduce them to his new friend Heather. Matthew was surprised by the response, "Yeah, of course we know Heather... how did you NOT know who she was?" He wondered aloud if he should have known of her, and was informed that, "EVERYONE knows who Heather is!" Matthew was then presented with a list of her most notable accomplishments: astronaut training at NASA, founding employee of Evernote, author for Inc. magazine, top-author at Quora, video game design, and more. Matthew cooly shrugged his shoulders and indicated that he was not Impressed. Clearly smitten, they smiled and continued their conversation. They talked about life, philosophy, neuroscience, and technology. ... and the rest is history : )

It was a picture-perfect day -- the sun decided to appear after being completely absent during a torrential rainstorm the previous day. At Tokyo Disneyland, the Happiest Place in Japan, Matthew had everything ready to go for the proposal. He even had a backup ring... just in case. However, he didn't account for humidity being 98% that day, so his phone, which he needed in order to coordinate the proposal, refused to turn on. Clueless, Heather gave him her phone for the day, as it's Disney, and who needs their phone anyway! Matthew proposed to Heather at her favorite place in the world (Disneyland) during her favorite event (The Electrical Dreamlights Parade) as her favorite float (Pete's Dragon 🐉) appeared around the corner. He said, "I love you, I love our adventures, and I love our life together... will you marry me?" It couldn't have been a more perfect end to a more perfect day!