It all started in our Nation's Capitol. Alex was working the night shift as a nurse, and I had just moved to DC with the military for an assignment. I didn't know anyone and was looking to explore the city, so I did what any young single guy does and tried to find myself a cute girl who knew the area! At the same time, Alex's friends were encouraging her to get out, so they set her up an online dating profile. She saw a video of me doing a muscle up and said to herself, "Well, he's fit". I saw pictures of her traveling and thought, "She's adventurous". I will say, the first text was from Alex at 8:22am, and our first conversation was about how she had never visited the Midwest. Her only rule at the time was no military men (she didn't tell me). Fortunately for me, I didn't include any military photos online, so I made the initial cut. On our first date, after hanging out for a while, we went and looked at houses, so at least she knew from the get-go that we would live a bit of a wild, dynamic, and exciting life. Our first big road trip was a couple of months later to go pick up a new car in southern Virginia when I called and

said, "down for an adventure?", and we headed out a few minutes later. Fast forward 6 months, and we decided to officially start dating right in time for COVID to hit, causing us to spend so much time together.

This isolation sparked our love for traveling even more, and since we were forced not to travel, we began researching and hatched a plan to go out and circumnavigate the world! In 2023, I took 60 days off from work, and Alex took a break from travel nursing. We went on a grand adventure around the globe, visiting 15 countries, 6 continents, and 6 wonders of the world! It was an epic adventure, but my favorite part was Alex agreeing to marry me in Greece! Since that trip, we have been resettling and trying to get everything a little more established here in the DC area.

In the last year, Alex finished her Master's and is now a Nurse Practitioner supporting 4 different senior living facilities in Northern Virginia. At the same time, she also helps manage our little car business, which grew from that one car we went to pick up together years ago to now a team of 8 people with almost 100 vehicles. Meanwhile, we rented our first home and bought a fixer-upper in DC closer to where I work on Capitol Hill. Renovating this place is for sure another test of how strong our relationship is, but it has been a lot of fun for us to figure out. I am getting my Master's from George Washington University as an Army Congressional Fellow (I convinced Alex that military men aren't so bad after all).

We have had lots of ups and downs, wild adventures, and 20+ hour days working. Still, the one constant has been that we have always been able to count on each other. Our commitment to each other and work ethic to achieve our goals have always been there. Here is to the last five years of adventures; a lifetime more awaits!!