One year after starting my first job at PowerPlan, I was told I would be a mentor to a new hire. I decided to take my new mentee to the closest five-star establishment to the office: Buffalo Wild Wings. When Leslie walked in, I realized I probably did not go fancy enough. In comes this beautiful person and the idea of discussing utility accounting software went out the window. We immediately started getting to know each other, talking about our lives, our love for our families and friends, and our obsessive desire to travel and see the world. We became great teammates, friends, and travel buddies in the office. Anything more, I thought, may get us into trouble with HR!

We decided to get in trouble anyways. Unfortunately, a couple of days after we started dating Leslie informed me that she had already decided to leave PowerPlan and head to Austin for two years to get her MBA. Thanks to COVID ending work travel and my treasure trove of Delta SkyMiles, I traveled to Austin as much as I could to see her. We would make the most out of every interaction, FaceTime cooking dates, and phone calls late into the night. We were told long distance would be the hardest test but both of us knew that love would find a way.

Love found a way.

Leslie came back to join me in Atlanta. I cannot express how excited I was to have her back here. By then, she had become my rock, my sounding board, my person, and my whole life. We both see the bright side of every situation and every challenge life throws at us. I asked her to marry me after a wonderful day of pickleball, breweries, sushi, and our families sneaking into our house to plan the big surprise.

We are so excited for this next chapter of our lives and cannot wait to share our special day with all of you.