Morgan and I met on a dating app back in October 2021. After FaceTiming every night for a week, we decided to meet for a date. We planned to take my new puppy Ollie to the dog park and then go out for dinner. Unfortunately for Morgan, we unexpectedly ran into each other at Target 15 minutes before our date. According to her, she wasn't mentally prepared to see me yet and was incredibly flustered. From my point of view, it looked like she was furious at me for staring at her from across the candy aisle. She was there getting dog treats for Ollie and some gum while I was looking for chocolate for her. Ollie did his part on our first date and won Morgan over just as much as I think I did.

We spent our first year together traveling back and forth between my place in Burnsville and Morgan’s apartment in Minneapolis. Despite her weekly travels for work, there was seldom a night we didn’t FaceTime or a weekend we didn’t spend together. We quickly grew comfortable with each other; just two months in we both caught Covid and had to quarantine together. Then a few weeks later, Morgan injured her knee skiing and was unable to walk or drive for a while which meant another two weeks together in my small apartment. Needless to say, we learned we could enjoy and appreciate each other’s quirks early off… maybe tolerate is the word Morgan would use.

Before we knew it, both of our leases were up coinciding with our one-year anniversary. We decided to move in together to see if we were truly a good fit or if our time quarantined was just Morgan tolerating my jokes because she had no choice. We found a place in Stillwater and moved in. Fortunately, Morgan’s work travel was reduced significantly so we now not only spent evenings together but also worked from home together.

Early last year I realized I couldn’t imagine my life without Morgan. In early April, I proposed overlooking Stillwater, the city where our life together began. There were tears of joy and it was a memorable moment at that scenic overlook, one of the best moments of my life until we realized our car had become stuck in a foot of snow dumped on us the night before. That’s when one of my best moments solidified as one of our better stories, fighting back laughter as we pushed our way out of the snow.

Whether hiking along the Minnesota North Shore, lounging on a beach in Florida or floating on a pontoon in Wisconsin, there is not a moment we’ve spent together I would give up. Morgan might disagree given my penchant for practical jokes and questionable timing but I'm confident that she has enjoyed most of our time together as well.

We're incredibly excited to get married soon and to share that day with all of you. Your support means the world to us, and we’re looking forward to adding more moments with all of you to our story.

Thanks for hearing my side of things,

Joe