Wedding Date on Nov 7, 2021

We first met at our university gym many years ago. Both of us were attracted to each other (we found when we remembered meeting later), but neither of us in a position to make a move. Years later, I matched with him on Bumble the day I landed back in the US from a trip to S. Korea. He had just returned from his Japan trip. I asked him about a bubble on his profile that just said, "cheesecake?" Later, he asked me out by making me his famous cheesecake with the words, "Will you be my girlfriend?" on a little handwritten note on top. Like my mom mentions in the video, our moms have known each other for years, but never mentioned their kids... Until after we started dating already. We just hadn't told them yet. For years we've been bumping into each other or sliding just past. Same university, some mutual friends, I'd even worked for a bit at the hospital, in the unit, that he worked at... but he was on vacation at the time. We even matched before, on Tinder, but I chickened out and unmatched him. Silly as it is, I took all those buzzfeed quizzes that tell you when you'll meet your soulmate; they told me I already did. I never thought they'd be right. Timing is everything, I suppose. We joke that we just weren't ready for each other yet, which is true. We were both more restless and impatient, still chasing wild nights and solo dreams. Maybe if we'd met earlier, we wouldn't have made it all the way. Even when we met, we weren't sure we had the ability to adapt to another person's needs and aspirations, but time showed us that you don't have to lose yourself for love. Love taught us the patience to handle whatever differences we had, but being with him has been and still is the easiest relationship I've ever had. The first time he told me to marry him, we were sitting on the couch, not even 2 months into dating. I was surprised by how I accepted it, not saying "no," instead saying "later." The day he *actually* proposed, 1.5 years later, I almost expected it, but I doubted it. He had that same glimmer in his eyes when he first told me he loved me, but he said he wouldn't propose until he graduated from CRNA school (3 more years). When we got home, he pulled out a giant box that had been sitting in our study for a few days, and asked me to open it. Our dog jumped in, nearly destroying a beautiful painting of a married couple by Leonid Afremov, my favorite painter. Underneath that was a much smaller box, and next to me he was on his knee, all while I was in my pajamas, in disbelief, shock, and absolute adoration for my soulmate.