Cat and I met in geology class in college, and I definitely had a crush on her before she did. She was this quiet, mysterious girl who always left geology class right on the dot and seemed like she always had somewhere important to be... and my curiosity was piqued.

So one day, I mustered up the courage to approach her, and learned that she is actually super talkative and friendly. We talked about a bunch of random things, from dinosaur bones to Lord of the Rings, basketball, music, drawing, and World of Warcraft. If you know us, you know who talked about each of those topics…

Over time, my entire junior year of college was consumed by Cat. We hung out all the time after class, went on dates to arboretums and restaurants, and I played a bunch of music for her on my violin.

Our first year together in college felt like a constant honeymoon — we had no real-life responsibilities or things to stress about. We were just two young kids enjoying college, wandering the streets of Philly, having good food, and laughing about stupid things.

At the time, I didn’t think our lives could get any more fun or interesting than our college years, but after we graduated, our lives became the most interesting rollercoaster that never went down.

We saw concerts at the Kennedy Center, hiked the mountains of rural Virginia, danced in a fancy ballroom to A Million Dreams, pulled hay bales at fall festivals, went on every ride at Disney at least 4 times, conquered brown recluse spiders and copperhead snakes in our apartment, rented an actual Hobbit home on Airbnb, learned to drive a boat in Big Bear, ate our way through Charlottesville, saw my favorite violinist in Toronto, watched Shin Lim perform magic in Vegas, and so much more in between.

I’ve always thought that, even after our initial “honeymoon” phase in college, life with Cat always felt like a honeymoon. Sure, we had our low points as any couple does, but we’ve grown so much together, and I can’t picture it happening any other way.

That’s why — in November 2023 — I decided to ask Cat’s parents for their permission to marry their daughter.

I think Greg (her dad) took it pretty well...

Despite Greg's overwhelming approval…we all celebrated and decided to go to Hawaii together!

And that’s where I proposed to my future wife 🙂

So yeah, we’re getting married! And that’s why you’re here I guess.

Excited to celebrate with ya ✌️