It all began when Krissy saved my life. Literally. It was the summer of 2015 and I had just moved back from Alaska and was starting a job in the Florida Keys at Seacamp, a marine science education camp for kids. Krissy was already working there as the Daycamp Director, and on my second day of work she was lifeguarding for the new staff as we were put through a slew of swimming tests. Now as you might expect, one does not do a lot of swimming in Alaska and I was a little out of practice. Add that to the heat of the Florida summer, and it spelled disaster. I began to panic and Krissy was quick to take notice. Krissy jumped in, swam to me, flipped me over onto her lifeguard tube, and swam me to safety. And the rest is history... Well, not really. Neither Krissy nor I had ever dated a woman before and we both were afraid to speak our feelings out loud in fear of it not being reciprocated. We spent the summer and the rest of that year becoming best friends. But come January of 2016 I could not hold my feelings in any longer. With the help of a little liquid courage and a nudge from some friends I sat Krissy down in a bar called Lazy Gecko in Key West and told her how I felt. Now the sane, normal thing to do would have been to tell her "I really like you and I think we should try dating". But nothing about this relationship is normal. I just blurted out "I love you". We hadn't been on one date, but "I love you". Bold move. But Krissy said back "I love you too"!! And now, the rest is history.

Fast forward almost 5 years. Krissy and I had been living our best lives in the Florida Keys as marine biologists and were blissfully happy. Then COVID happened and our usually social lives turned into a life at home, 24-7 for six months. I had not been planning on proposing, but an opportunity arose to get off the island and go to the mountains with both of our best friends (Lexie and Gina). It was too good an opportunity to turn down! And after being with each other constantly for the six months prior, it was abundantly clear that Krissy was the person for me. The person to keep me sane in times of insanity, the person to lean on when times were tough, and the person to laugh with always. So I devised a plan and brought Lexie in on it. Now, Krissy really thought she was going to be the one to propose first, and had joked about having a strict 5-year minimum for doing so...but I was tired of waiting, and thought "close enough"! So I planned a day on the trip to go apple picking because Krissy had always wanted to go, and I picked an orchard that had a field of sunflowers - Krissy's favorite flower. However, the day before I was planning on proposing Krissy, Lexie, Gina, and myself were all at another beautiful orchard doing a whiskey tasting. Gina has joked with Krissy for years that she should propose to me, and that day was no different. But after she said this once again, as we were sitting in rocking chairs on the back deck of the whiskey distillery overlooking the beautiful orchard, Krissy gets down on one knee!! She starts to propose, as a look of shock appears on mine and Lexie's face! But then she says "just kidding!" Boy, wouldn't that have been a twist!? The next day, when I was planning on proposing, I decide to get back at Krissy for what occurred the day before. In the field of sunflowers I get down on one knee, start to propose, and then stand up and say "just kidding". But as laughter appears on Krissy's face, I pull out the ring, get down on one knee and start to propose for real. Krissy's face changed from laughter, to confusion, to tears. Of course she said yes!

Emily and I agreed early in our relationship that our engagement would involve two proposals. We decided that we would not be officially engaged until we had each accepted the other’s proposal and got that special moment. So after Emily proposed in a field of sunflowers, I began trying to think up a proposal that would catch her by surprise now that she knew one was coming. I decided to propose on our fifth anniversary. This seems like a predictable choice but I was able to throw her off my trail by planning an anniversary surprise. I set up a scavenger hunt around Key West that had love notes hidden in all of our favorite places. We rode a pedicab around to each location and ended the tour at one of our favorite dinner places, Hot Tin Roof. After desert she assumed that the anniversary surprise had ended and our night would finish with cocktails on Duval Street. Little did she know I had planned a second surprise for that evening. After dinner we headed to General Horseplay for drinks, and as we entered our friend Zach was on stage performing one of “our” songs. We were surrounded by all of our best friends while we danced, though Emily didn’t notice at first. Then I got down on one knee and dropped the question! She said yes and now we want all of you to come celebrate getting married with us!