We're getting married!

I first saw Katie Taylor in the summer of 2016 when we were both YMCA camp counselors! Little did I know, a mundane icebreaker would be the first time I would lay eyes on the woman I would ask to be my wife. Years would pass until a cat named after a fruit would act as my wing-girl for securing a first date in December 2018.

I asked Katie "so...are we official now?" on February 18th, 2019, and we said our first "I love you's" on May 11th on a blanket under the stars. The admission was a natural utterance during a moonlit conversation about one's place in the universe. Katie said it first but both our hearts had whispered the words long before they left our lips.

The two of us were like peas in a pod. We traveled the state and the country together. We endured an unprecedented moment in human history that shook us to our very core and forced us to make big changes to how we lived, season 8 of Game of Thrones. We also moved together into a quaint apartment in Bellingham where our two calico cats duked it out for queen of the castle.

The engagement took place in Smith Tower, a historic skyscraper in downtown Seattle. Never one to be predictable, I chose to plant my knee in the 1900s museum section of the building. It was an easy yes and was followed by champagne in the rooftop restaurant overlooking Seattle and the Puget Sound.