As fate would have it, on April 14th, 2023, Walter and Abby were set up by friends to attend the Coast Guard Ball together- expecting it to be fully platonic and mostly awkward. They were so wrong. The following day, to win Abby over, Walter engineered her a custom handmade papaya grabber. Abby's heart was won.

This began a whirlwind of dating and exploring Hawai'i together... for only the next two months until Walter was shipped away to begin his new career in NYC. But, they sure made the most of it- island hopping, surfing, and watching sunsets. The perfect foundation to kickoff what would become a year of long distance across an entire country and half of the Pacific Ocean.

Abby and Walter continued dating, despite the 4,000 mile distance, round-trip plane rides (sometimes for only a 48 hour visit), and 6 hour time difference. Somehow, they managed to see each other every other month. After a year of using up all of their PTO and blowing through all of their flight miles, they decided it was time to close the distance. Abby packed up the surfboards, and headed for NYC. Abby and Walter moved in together on June 23rd, 2024.

In July 2025, Abby and Walter returned to the place where it all began. During their trip, they hopped over to Kauai to hike the breathtaking Na Pali Coast. After 11 miles of lunging up grueling elevation gains, traversing across roaring rivers, and inching across steep sea cliff ledges, they arrived at a serene secret beach at the base of the legendary Kalalau Valley. As the sun set, Walter dropped down on his knee and asked Abby to spend the rest of her life with him.