We officially met July 5th, 2022 when we sat at the same table on the first day of medical school in Grand Forks, ND. Little did we know how our lives would intertwine forever with that first introduction! We initially got to know each other more through mutual friends and a shared love of ping pong. Greta is on the record saying that her "first spark" moment came at a social hour hosted by the UND during the second week of orientation, and her "first crush" moment came after a heated game of lightning on a basketball court. Nolan has admitted that he knew something was afoot when both of us arrived early for a round of ping pong and he was so nervous he could barely form a coherent sentence.

As summer turned to fall, and then fall into winter, we grew closer than ever. Suddenly, Nolan decided he was really (REALLY) into bouldering and rock climbing, despite having spaghetti noodles for arms his entire life. After months of switching between tables for lectures, suddenly Greta found a new favorite spot close to Nolan. At med prom in January 2023, our close mutual friends were on vacation, leaving the two of us to celebrate the night. Nolan was given the Heart of Gold Award by his classmates and wanted nothing more than to thank Greta for being a huge reason why he received the honor, but suddenly Greta was too shy to talk. Later that evening, Greta sent "clear signals" by putting her arm around Nolan (quotations insisted upon by Nolan) while showing him pictures of our friends on vacation. While the "clear signal" went completely over Nolan's head, he began to wonder whether Greta may feel the same way that he did about her. Come Valentine's Day 2023, Nolan wrote Greta a poem asking her to be his valentine. Greta proceeded to wait approximately 6 hours before reading the poem and agreeing to be Nolan's valentine, and the rest is history!

Well, not quite. We didn't officially start dating until March 20th, 2023, when Greta finally took pity upon Nolan and asked him to be her boyfriend after an evening spent bouldering. Dates were squeezed into a schedule full of studying, and included a crushing defeat for Greta in a cooking competition, and the worst date ever where Nolan tried to take Greta to get ice cream on Easter Sunday (spoiler: everything was closed). Despite the mishaps and misadventures, neither of us had ever been happier (or more stressed out) in medical school.

The biggest jump in our relationship came in September 2023. Nolan was planning a solo trip to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons National Park for a week, and Greta decided to come with. The weather was perfect, the fall colors gorgeous, and the wildlife incredible. Greta learned many interesting things about Nolan that week, namely being that Nolan is horrible at starting fires and thinks subsisting entirely on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches is a normal camping trip idea. Nolan mostly learned that Greta is his soulmate. The trip brought us much closer together, and we were darn near inseparable after that. Another joint trip to Glacier National Park in June 2024 solidified the thoughts and ideas we were already starting to think about; we were meant for each other.

In April 2025, Nolan waited for the perfect spring evening to take Greta on a surprise dinner date. Little did Greta know that Nolan had scoped out the prettiest place in Bismarck and was sweating bullets the entire dinner with an engagement ring sitting in his pocket. Greta also definitely didn't know because she still wore sweatpants and a sweatshirt to dinner despite Nolan's best efforts to get her to dress up. After dinner, we drove out to an overlook view of the Missouri River with a beautiful sunset backdrop, where Nolan got down on one knee and asked Greta to spend the rest of her life with him. And this time, the rest is truly history!