Despite working in the same department only one building apart, Cody and Amanda actually met across the world at the Pathways Europe conference in Wageningen, Netherlands in October 2022! They spent time together during the conference and carried that friendship back to Athens, GA, where Amanda was still working on her PhD and Cody was (and still is) working as a research professional at the Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. Their friendship grew over time until they started dating a few months later.

Since then, they have had several fun adventures, including buying a house in Watkinsville, GA, settling into life with Amanda's cat Tigger (who is now 20 years old!), Amanda obtaining her PhD and getting a remote job with West Virginia University, and the two of them exploring the world in their free time. So far as a couple, they have visited several US states and a handful of different countries together including Canada, Panama, Guatemala, Colombia, New Zealand, France, Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, and Thailand. They don't have plans to stop anytime soon and will be going to South Africa for their honeymoon!