Once upon a time, during the great pandemic of 2020, when the world was locked down and social distancing was the new normal, two souls swiped right on Bumble. It all started with a message from Amber “here’s a - (line)!" Not the most romantic opener, but in a world full of Zoom meetings and toilet paper shortages, it felt like a breath of fresh air—at least virtually.

We had nothing else to do, really, so we decided to break the monotony of isolation by going on a hike for our first date. Hiking was the perfect choice: outdoors, socially distant, and a chance to escape from the chaos of the world. Plus, there was something undeniably charming about the idea of hiking in the woods with someone you’d just met online. If we could survive an hour hike without killing each other, maybe we had a shot at this whole "dating" thing.

As we made our way down the trail, we talked about everything—how wild it was that the world was shut down, how we were surviving on takeout and Netflix, and how absurd it was that the grocery store had more people fighting over yeast than over actual food. There, in the middle of the woods, we found a peaceful space to talk, laugh, and forget about the global crisis for a few hours.

And just like that, something magical happened in the wilderness. While the world was closed, we found an open space in each other’s hearts. Over the next few weeks and plenty more hikes, we had fallen in love.

Fast forward to today—COVID may have shut the world down, but it couldn’t stop us from finding love in the most unexpected place. Now, we’re not just hiking through life together, but planning a wedding. And every time someone asks how we met, we laugh and say, "Well, we swiped right, went hiking, and fell in love.”

So here we are, ready to take the next step on this journey—no more hiking for now, just a lifetime of adventures, laughs, and love, as we face whatever the world throws our way.

A&T

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