Hilary was the cantorial soloist and the teacher of my daughter Victoria at a local synagogue. We knew of each other, but did not really know each other well. We had no idea that our worlds would soon change for the better. Hilary was walking with her good friend, Faith Brasch. Faith asked if she could give me Hilary's number. I took my time to call her, but now I’m very glad I did.

Our dating started a bit slow with me not getting Hilary’s “hints”. It took some special chocolate chip cookies to convince me. Though once I got the hint, it

didn’t take long for us to become boyfriend and girlfriend. We spent a lot of time enjoying each other’s company and hobbies. Hilary agreed to go hiking and I agreed to go shopping and to the opera. We became best friends and talked and texted several times a day, every day! We had some great vacations to Western Michigan, Alaska, and Washington State. We became closer each time we were together.

Once again, I took my time to take our relationship to the next level. Much to Hilary’s dismay, it took me two years and three months to make my next move.

However, in my defense, there was a plan that took me a long time to decide on and arrange.

On July 11, 2023 on a small wooden bench at Paradise Point on Mount Rainer I proposed with a poem. We were both crying so hard that Hilary did not hear me ask her to marry me in the last line of the poem. As I was about to put the beautiful engagement ring on her finger, Hilary said, “Wait, you didn’t ask me yet!” I said “Yes, I did!” we both laughed and I asked Hilary again. She said “Yes!” and the running joke became every time we passed a bench I had to “ask” Hilary again and again and again... (she said "yes" every time).

We have been very happy ever since and look forward to spending the rest of our lives together as husband and wife.