It all started one night at a lively local bar when, with a little push from friends, Dylan finally mustered the courage to walk over to McKinsey. From that moment, time seemed to stop.

We talked for hours, lost in conversation and unaware of the people around us. It felt as if we had known each other forever, yet every word was exciting and new. We knew this was just the beginning.

Over the next few weeks, each encounter felt like a stolen moment, a glimpse into a world where only the two of us existed. But it was during our first official date that the magic truly crystallized. We had chosen a quiet restaurant for dinner, but once again, we found ourselves so lost in each other’s stories that we completely forgot to order.

It wasn’t until the waitress announced last call that we realized we had spent hours sitting there, wrapped in conversation, only ordering a glass of wine just before the kitchen closed. But it didn’t matter. We had what we needed.

The weeks that followed were a whirlwind of adventure: concerts where we danced like no one was watching, baseball games where we celebrated the wins and shook off the losses, hunting trips that tested our patience but brought us closer, and spontaneous travels where we discovered new places and, in turn, new parts of each other. Each day was an exploration, and with every passing moment, it became clearer that what we had was something rare, something real.

On McKinsey’s birthday, September 11, 2023, Dylan planned the perfect moment at Iron Horse Pub. In the warm ambiance of a room saturated with candlelight, he dropped to one knee and asked the question that had been on his mind for weeks. Without hesitation, McKinsey said yes.

And just like that, our forever began.