Kristen's version ---

"Shoes are the greatest unsung evil of everyday life. I love being barefoot" -Matt

This was Matt's response to the prompt "My most controversial opinion is..." and it, along with a couple good photos, made me send him a message on December 28, 2019.

We chatted through Hinge for a few days and met up at the Cleveland Rock Gym for our first date.

I remember calling my friend Liz afterwards to tell her that I was alive, I enjoyed Matt's company, and that I was a better climber than him.lol

Matt's Version - -

I don't remember much about her Hinge profile but I do remember that after she reached out to me about my distain for shoes I was hooked. We talked about climbing and travel and our plans for New Years.

Our first date was on New Years Day at a climbing gym. She knew almost everyone in the gym and was better than me - I was intimidated. But she was nice and didn't laugh at me too hard when I fell a whole bunch.

Kristen was still living with her parents at the time so our fourth date was a double date with her parents at Mitchell's Ice Cream.

I knew I was falling in love with her during Lent of 2020 when she threw herself fully into my family traditions that I wasn't able to share with my family.

Our Story--

We started dating in January of 2020 and managed 10 real dates before COVID shut the world down. As luck would have it, Matt was playing a gig the week before the shutdown happened so our families were able to meet for a night. They seemed to get on nicely and we were relieved to hear from both sides that they really enjoyed the others' company.

We were not able to do many of the things we were hoping to because of COVID. Holidays, family events and even vacations didn't get to happen. Luckily FaceTimes and Zooms did!

COVID gave us a great opportunity to explore the great outdoors. Instead of going to dinner or the movies, we found new trails to hike both in and out of Ohio. We hiked almost daily and we camped in Michigan and New York.

We got really competitive at Jenga - with our current tally showing Kristen holding a 1 game advantage 36 wins to Matt's 35. We also dove into jigsaw puzzles, crosswords and puzzle games - anything that made us think and strategize together.

As COVID started calming down, we finally met each others extended families and got to see what we were really getting ourselves into :) Turns out, both of our families are the same brand of good crazy.

On May 23, 2021 Matt proposed at an overlook on one of our favorite hikes! We quickly called our families and closest friends to share the exciting news.

We cannot wait to get married on March 19, 2022!!

Registry

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