They met October 5th of 2021. She saw his beautiful eyes and knew she needed to talk to him. He thought she was cute, so he gave her a shot. They were both talking to other people but decided to hang out and see where this could go. The first official date was on Halloween and five days later, he asked her to be his girlfriend.

Four months into dating, he left for a 7 month deployment. Though they were a million miles apart, they still talked every day and would facetime for hours at a time simply to just exist with each other, even if it was over a screen. It was tough but they survived & endured until they could be together again.

Christmas about a week early. As an early present and because he knew Christmas was her favorite holiday, he took her out to see the lights at Natural Bridge. She mentioned that last time she went there, she (along with my mom and brothers) had accidentally crashed a wedding. It was Christmas so it made sense to take pictures. At the end of the trail, he decided that was the spot. With the camera in position, he pressed record. Right before he got down on one knee, Jake asked if Elizabeth remembered telling him about crashing a wedding there. She said yes, then asked why, thinking they had accidentally crashed another. He turned, grinning, and said "Well, now you can crash your own proposal".