M: I first met Jack on my first day of work at Middle Earth, a youth development nonprofit that serves communities in NJ. I joined in the Spring of 2018 part-time to give back to the community as a youth mentor before starting business school. Jack had been working there running employment and college readiness programs. Our first "hi" was quick - I had no idea that I was speaking to my future husband.

With different work schedules, we mostly saw each other sporadically at gatherings with mutual friends. One time in particular, we walked around the fall festival in Morristown. We talked about the TV show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and I realized quickly how much we had in common, and that he had a dark, sarcastic sense of humor (swoon). Months later, sitting next to each other at a big Ethiopian dinner we were both invited to, we joked about being the "cool" side of the table, as the other side ordered vegetarian. Joke's on us now, we're both (mostly) vegetarian. The next time I saw him was three years later, after I graduated business school.

Cut to me frantically setting up decorations for our mutual friend's engagement party - I had a rushed, strenuous morning and guests were already starting to filter in. It wasn’t until most people arrived that I finally had a chance to grab my first meal of the day. As I moved toward a table to devour it, in walks Jack who immediately beelines to me, his social anxiety compelling him towards the one person he recognizes. While we reconnected, and I reluctantly placed my full plate on the table, I remembered how much I had liked him. I invited him over right after the party (smooth) to share some beers around a fire. He agreed, and on our first time alone together, we went deep into our likes (free food), dislikes (Ronald Reagan), traumas (spontaneous conga lines) and at the end, after a slightly awkward but cute hug, he departed.

It didn't take long for us to plan our next encounter. If I hadn't already realized how much he liked me, I knew instantly when he suggested we see each other twice in the same weekend. Feeling encouraged by his bold move, I suggested we go stargazing at one of my favorite spots. As I drove us out with the doors and windows off my Jeep, I hoped he wasn't freezing to death beside me, hardly able to contain my excitement that we were about to share such a romantic moment together...

J: ...I was pretty cold when we pulled off on the side of a dark road and poked our bodies through Morgan's Jeep roof to look at the stars. She pulled out her phone to show me an app that would scan the sky to identify constellations, and as she waved her phone around, I leaned in closer to her to look. I had already decided that she was awesome, and I wanted to kiss her - I was really just waiting for her to stand still long enough for me to make a move (which went on for longer than I'm comfortable admitting). Heart pounding, I finally got the courage to stammer awkwardly that I liked her and when she reciprocated, I kissed her.

We dated long distance for a while, as Morgan lived in NYC and I in New Jersey. I grew to love her apartment, her black cat Bert (who I finally won over after many, many months), and her chinchilla, Tuco. After a year and a half of dating, and after we lugged my things up six flights of stairs, I moved in, and her apartment became our apartment. We painted a mural on our kitchen wall to mark the occasion. It is very clear which parts I did, and which were done by someone with an art degree. With our weekend commute significantly lessened, we traveled more, from places like Boston and Maine, to Ireland and Iceland.

No matter where we went, our favorite trip was always Sedona. Every day we did what we loved most: hiking, going to wineries, stargazing, and watching movies until we fell asleep, excited to do it all over again. From that first trip, I knew that Sedona was where I was going to propose, and just like our first kiss, I wanted to propose to her under the stars. I found a place for stargazing called Sunset Crater Volcano National Park and, in the days before the trip, I worried it was going to be a total disaster: full moon and clouds forecasted to obstruct our view, and it was supposed to be uncomfortably cold and windy. Luckily, when we arrived that night, we looked up, and sure enough the sky was full of stars. As she waved her phone around, identifying the constellations, I shuffled around nervously before awkwardly blurting out "I have something that I wanted to say". Thank God Morgan finds those things cute. In our happiness, we forgot to even put her ring on. I didn't think that we could beat our first time in Sedona, but I knew then that this would always be my favorite trip ever.