The year is 2020, and I had just moved to Madison, Wisconsin in the middle of the most turbulent time in my life. I had just taken my first exam of PT school, and I thought, “you know what, now seems like a good time to try dating out.” That Friday, I spent time coordinating with my closest friends to determine the right combination of photos, phrases, and details to help turn all of me to one screenfull of information. A daunting task, but we managed to get through it with much deliberation.

Now, for anyone who has experienced tinder, it is a bit of a coin flip whether you have a positive or a negative experience. With that being said, the first few messages I received through the app left much to be desired. However, that same night I got a message from Jamal that asked for my most controversial opinion. Now that was a conversation starter. The very first “non-creepy” message (as I would later refer to it) had sparked something in me. With that question we began the process of getting to know each other in the middle of a global pandemic where we weren't allowed to get within 6 feet of each other.

Within 3 weeks of first downloading Tinder, I had already deleted it, settling that there was no need for me to keep looking when I had already found someone so engaging and kind. Soon after, we went on our first date, an outdoor, socially distanced ice cream date where we walked to a nearby park and just talked about life. It was that conversation where I finally started to see who Jamal was. I got to witness first hand his lighthearted, kind, thoughtful nature as ice cream dripped all over his hand, the ground, and onto the nearby ant hill. We went on several more socially distanced dates in those first few months and since then we have traveled to over 10 different states, across multiple national parks, lived in 3 different apartments together, and most importantly, we have eaten a LOT of ice cream together.

The year is 2023, and I have just moved To Nashville Tennessee in preparation for Maya's last clinical, where we would move in together and start our adventure together. Little did she know I was already researching and planning dates for our engagement (after having many conversations with Maya, about how we would wait to be engaged after graduation, but I wanted it to be a surprise and catch her off guard). When discussing with my mom about how I was trying to find the perfect ring for Maya, my Mom offered hers. At first I was hesitant, since I still wanted my mom to have her ring, however, she reassured me that she still has another one my dad and her chose together.

So now that I had a ring, all I had to pick was a location, knowing Maya loves Disney (since half of our road trip songs are from every Disney movie imaginable), I knew I should pick something Disney themed. Finally, I found the Disney immersive experience, where you could “live your disney dreams, in an immersive experience,” I didn’t know much about it except that one line they repetitively used. I decided to attempt to reach out to a manager to see how it was all laid out. They gave me very little info and said it is a music performance, not even giving me the details of what music was playing, but deep down in my heart I knew this would be magical for the both of us. So I booked us some VIP tickets to a showing in hopes I could get more details (I did not).

After Maya arrived in Nashville I had to hide my excitement and the ring, which I did extremely poorly in my sock drawer, which was usually left open and the ring on top. Luckily she did not notice. A couple of months went by, and the day finally arrived for us to go to the Disney immersive experience. At first I was not nervous and had the ring in my jacket pocket since it did not stand out, except I forgot about a game we have been playing almost nonstop for our entire relationship, the pocket game.

One of my buddies showed me this game, where the task is simple: get your hand in someone else’s pocket and you win, but Maya and I also added whoever gets in the person's pocket after an hour gets a kiss. I forgot about this game entirely until we were walking into the entrance of the immersive experience, where Maya attempted to grab my jacket pocket (the one with the ring). Trying not to be weird I grabbed her hand, kissed it, and walked (very quickly) away, to move the ring and I kept my hand in that pocket clutching it tight until the show started. I just hoped nothing seemed off with leaving one of my hands in my pocket.

Once the show started the nervousness kicked in, I had no idea when I would ask, so I just waited, watching her in awe of the show and waiting for the perfect moment. Then Aaladin’s “A whole a new world” came on, I was ready to ask, but as soon as I was getting ready to pull out the ring, the song changed and ruined the moment. So I waited, knowing the show was getting closer and closer to the end, then I remembered Maya’s favorite movie and scene is the lantern ceremony in Tangled, maybe they will play that. And sure enough they did, and then during the lanterns and lights going off in the room, I turned to her and said “Maya you are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I can not imagine a life without you in it, Will you marry me”. The look of shock and disbelief was priceless. After the third “Are you serious?!?!” behind tears of joy and my reassurance that I was, in fact, not joking, she said yes. And I could not be more happy that she did, and she did not win my pocket that day.