How We Met
“Nathan and I were supposed to meet a couple of times before we actually did. The timing just wasn't right for us yet.
The first near-miss was in 2020. Nathan was on vacation and texted my dental school roommate, Marissa, asking about her friends from school. He knew Marissa from undergrad; what he didn't know was that she and I were best friends. The conversation fizzled out, and I went on with my life, completely unaware I'd already almost crossed paths with my future husband.
Then came 2022. At a mutual friend's Halloween party, I was taking the holiday very seriously and showed up as Gene Simmons from KISS: giant hair, full face paint, the works. Hard to miss. Nathan's roommate, Ed, decided the costume deserved to be documented and pulled me in for a photo, with Nathan behind the camera, as usual, taking the shot.
That picture vanished into the depths of a camera roll and didn't resurface for years. So technically? We'd already met.
But after all the almosts, we finally found each other the modern way: Hinge.
I'd just finished dental boards and figured it was time to expand my world a little beyond friends, school, and pickleball. And if I happened to find a husband to enjoy life with along the way, even better. Swipe after swipe, and somehow we landed on each other. Two tall blondes, perfect. A first date felt like a shot worth taking.
The plan: a sunset hike at Papago Park in Tempe.
The problem: Arizona gets roughly one day of rain a year, and that was the day.
Was I being saved from an "online boy meets online girl and she becomes the subject of a true crime documentary" situation? Maybe. Or maybe I watch too many Netflix documentaries.
Luckily, it was also Phoenix Restaurant Week, so Nathan suggested we skip the hike and try somewhere new instead. And since I have never once turned down chips and salsa, our first date happened at Chantico.
As they say, the rest is history.” • Laramie
The Proposal
“In December, Laramie and I went up to Sedona for the weekend. To keep her from catching on, we brought Kiya along so we'd have a good excuse to spend the day hiking, and I let Laramie believe we were staying at our friend Sean's cabin.
We spent most of the day shopping downtown. I kept insisting we pop into just one more store; Christmas was coming, and I really needed to find a way to kill time.
As sunset approached, we finally headed out to Fay Canyon for our hike. When we reached the viewpoint, I asked a passing hiker to grab a photo of us on my phone. She was dressed in the standard-issue granola hiking drab, which was perfect; she was the photographer I'd hired months earlier.
After a few shots, Laramie was getting cold and ready to head back to the car. She started walking to the trail, and I called her back. When she turned around, I was already down on one knee.
She said Yes.” • Nathan
