We're getting married

Julia and I met in high school but sadly were not high school sweethearts, just friends. And "just friends" seemed to be the theme of our relationship for a long time. We were friends in high school, then friends in college where we started dating in 2013 briefly, until we went back to being just friends...yikes. We stayed friends from then on, with me always knowing in the back of my mind that we were meant to be together. I always like to tell Julia that "persistence is key," and although it took some time, one fateful October night in 2016, at a silent disco in Astoria, we finally both realized together that we weren't just best friends, but also soul mates. It's been adventure after adventure ever since then and we couldn't be more in love.

It was the first day of our vacation in the Grand Canyon, and Jack and I were taking an ambitious 6 mile hike down to Skeleton Point. At each viewpoint, Jack would thoroughly examine the area, as I was impatiently pushing him to keep moving. Little did I know, he was looking for the perfect spot to pop the question. As we made it about halfway down the trail, we came across a Park Ranger who told us not to go to the bottom, saying "it's another mile and a half and you can get the same view here, don't waste your time." We considered his advice, but Jack, being the great lawyer that he is, convinced me to continue on to the bottom. When we finally made it to Skeleton Point, we were hot and exhausted, but felt so accomplished! Jack set up his phone with a self-timer to take a picture of us, as he always does on our hikes, but this time he was secretly taking a video. As I stood ready to pose for our photo, Jack ran my way and instead of posing with me, he pulled a little box out of his backpack! He asked me to marry him, and I said yes. I was completely shocked and couldn't have been happier. We took in the amazing view of the Grand Canyon and hiked back up the trail as fiancés, ready to start our next adventure together.