Told by Julia's high school friend, Ally Jansen.

When Julia first moved to Madison in 2021, I quickly learned of Jordan and Ethan Gale's friend, Nick (AKA Boat Nick). For quite a while, I only knew three things about Boat Nick: (1) He owned a boat (2) He was definitely interested in Julia, and showed his affections by providing Julia with an endless supply of boat ride invitations and (3) Most importantly, Julia just wanted to be friends. This dynamic went on for a few years.

One weekend in the spring of 2023, Julia and I were on my couch catching up on our lives. A recent development in hers was that Nick had an extra ticket to a concert, and had asked if she would be interested in going with him and a group of friends. Julia had a lot of thoughts on the matter. Is he just trying to get rid of an extra ticket? Was this a date? Was he trying to ask her on a date without really even asking her on a date? Doesn’t he know that they are just friends? What was this guy’s deal???? Being a loyal friend, I agreed! There was no making sense of a guy who likes you inviting you to a concert! And so Julia and I went round and round examining the situation from every possible angle. This continued for probably 30-45 minutes until my husband came into the room and joined us on the couch. We inundated him with all of the specifics of the Nick situation, complete with careful arguments and keen observations. When he looked confused, we were sure it was due to Nick’s audacious behavior, but then he pointedly asked Julia, “...well do you want to go on a date with him?” To which Julia replied, “well maybe…but that’s not the point!!!”

His question propelled Julia to ask Nick if he was in fact asking her on a date (he allegedly wasn’t), which propelled Nick to then ask Julia on a date. One date turned into two, and it wasn’t long before Nick was building Jordy a doggy day bed for his afternoon naps and Julia was reorganizing and removing all of the hammers from Nick’s kitchen and pantry. He quickly transformed from “Boat Nick” to “Julia’s Nick” and she had no shortage of positive things to say about his work ethic, love of family, and caring nature. For his part, Nick was already well aware of what a giving, authentic, and brilliant (Hello, Dr. Popp!) partner he was getting in Julia. The two share a love of travel, cabin life, meat raffles, and protein. Nick’s easy going and patient approach to life pairs perfectly with Julia’s fiery, boisterous streak, and Julia still enjoys the amenities of the boat that is soon to be both of theirs.

Itinerary