Written from Scott’s point of view:

I had just recently moved to Washington DC, a city where I knew next to nobody, for a new role within my company. I am grateful to have been fortunate enough to live with my brother and sister-in-law in their recently purchased home in a spare room, but knew that I would eventually have to venture out into the real world and meet people on my own. What better way to get to explore a new city than to venture into the awkward and perverse world of online dating… Sarah’s profile was the first profile to really catch my attention. Not only did I think she was (is) beautiful, but I had to reach out… emboldened by my curiosity to hear about how she had spent time playing with tigers, cage diving with sharks, and to point out that I knew she was lying about riding on the back of an emu (poor bird!). With a little charm, and some pictures of me holding a baby (not mine) and a dog (also not mine), I would convince her to meet me in a well-lit, public place. I think we had both successfully convinced one another that we were PROBABLY not axe murderers.

Later that week, on a cold January evening in 2017, Sarah agreed to meet me in a poorly lit British pub on the U-Street Corridor in DC. She had also recently moved to Washington DC, just earlier that week. In typical Scott-fashion, I arrived for our first date some 20-odd minutes early not knowing how long it would take to get there and not wanting to be late. I took a seat at the bar near the door on the main level to wait, assuming that I was obnoxiously early. I did not want to find myself in some awkward text game of “u there?” with my hot date, but also I wanted a clear line to the door if turned out to be some kind of catfish date from Hell! The TV at the bar was playing golf, which I was only watching to avoid the possibility of having to make small talk with someone at the bar as I waited.

I noticed Sarah come in a short while later as the door man was checking her ID to admit her to the bar area. I quickly became annoyed by how long it took the bouncer to do and say what I would have expected to take 10 or 15 seconds. After what seemed like 5 minutes of me waiting agonizingly pretending to watch golf and just prior to me getting up to make some kind of scene (J/K, I would not do that), Sarah was able to get away from the security guard and approached to introduce ourselves. She quickly commented on me having been watching the TV while waiting and innocently asked, “Oh, so do you like golf?” to which I nippily responded “No” before taking a sip of my drink. She was undeterred by my irritation and was able to quickly win me over with her fun stories and sweet disposition.

Throughout the course of the night, I would learn that Sarah loves a good roof-deck (no matter how cold), isn’t afraid to dance ‘like nobody’s watching’ (or if literally every single person is watching), and is always down for a ‘jumbo slice’ at 3AM. We stayed out all night and had a great time getting to know each other.

The next day we went to the National Zoo together in the midst of a small snow squall. The zoo was empty due to the weather and the employees hurriedly tried to usher us out after only having been there for a few minutes. The zoo was unusually quiet and quite picturesque under a fresh layer of newly fallen snow, but I would be damned if we were going to leave without seeing something. In a stroke of genius, I took Sarah to the close-by panda exhibit knowing that we would not have to fight any tourists for a front row view.

Has anyone ever taken you to see a little panda rolling around in the snow? It’s pretty stinkin’ cute. THAT is why we are still together. We have been going on adventures / binge watching TV on the couch together ever since.

Written from Sarah's point of view:

I called Scott to let him know that I was on my way home from work. Scott is not a big phone person (unless Dan is calling him), and usually when I call he is less than enthusiastic to talk. But today he sounded happy, maybe excited? I pointed this out to him. He responded innocently, "I'm just excited to spend time with you."

I got home to find Scott laying on our bed, playing on his phone. I told him I needed 15 minutes to get ready for dinner. Scott suggested we get burgers. I told him, "If I'm going to go out to dinner, I don't want burgers. We could make those here. Let's do Thai!"

I started getting ready to go to dinner. I opened my sock drawer to find that I had no clean socks left, but I remembered my mom had just mailed me some socks (aren't moms the best?). Pack of socks in hand, I sat on the edge of our bed. The socks were being held together by those little plastic things. From the doorway, Scott watched me struggle. I gave up trying to pull the plastic out with my fingers and put the plastic end between my teeth. As I was about to pull, Scott said, "this is cheating, but I need to read this from my phone." It was at this point that I really stopped and looked at him. He looked nervous. Really, really nervous. I immediately understood what was happening and began sweating profusely. I slowly lowered the pack of socks from my mouth. It was then that Scott read me the most beautiful list of burger puns about love and marriage, featuring lines like, "you are my butter half," and "I want you to brie mine forever." He took out a tiny burger, which turned out to be a burger trinket box that he had turned into a ring box. At this point I was sweating and crying happy tears. It was a perfect proposal. It was perfectly us.*

Scott is my favorite person and my best friend. He makes me feel deeply loved in little and big ways. His laugh is my favorite sound in the world. You can ask any of my bridesmaids, I've been crazy about him since the moment we met. I feel incredibly grateful to have found him and am so excited to be his wife!

*If you don't understand why Scott's proposal was absolutely perfect for us, it's because we have watched the show Bob's Burgers essentially every night while falling asleep for the past 4 years.