their story
The Beginning
Patrick, with some exceedingly smooth pick-up lines, convinces Elizabeth to go on a date with him over a dating app called Hinge. The app requires a mutual social media friend - in this case a person who studied Arabic with Patrick in Jordan and with Elizabeth in Monterrey, California. He then proceeds almost immediately to drop the ball when the Marine Corps takes away the free time (this only ever happened once… not) that he had set aside for the first date. Elizabeth is about to not go on a rescheduled date with this apparently flakey service member, when she finds (and READS!) his undergraduate honors thesis on the analogy between cyber and nuclear deterrence. Patrick later learned that she decided to go on the date because of the thesis, so he is taking a moment here to thank his thesis advisors for getting him married.
Driving up to the date, Patrick sees a woman walking in heels and a black leather jacket. He whistles (politely, in his head) and hopes that this is the woman he is going on a date with. As it turns out, it was and Patrick and Elizabeth spent the rest of the night talking and sparking off of one another in what turned out to be the last single night of their lives.
Long Distance
Patrick and Elizabeth have spent their entire relationship without living in the same place. The distance has varied from 42 miles to 6081 miles. Their careers have taken them to schools and training all over America and deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Japan. It has not always been easy, but the time they have together makes it more than worth it. One of our favorite things to do is to spend slow Saturday mornings drinking coffee, reading The Atlantic (Elizabeth) and The Economist (Patrick), and munching on avocado toast and eggs.
Adventures In Between
In the interim, Patrick and Elizabeth have travelled to the United Kingdom, Greece, France, Spain, and Canada. In the U.S., they have travelled to Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Georgia, Hawaii, California, and driven through about a dozen other states together. They have gone to a remarkable 10(!!) separate botanical gardens together because of their (*cough* Elizabeth’s) enduring love of plants. In the years since they have met, they have spent many days laying out on beaches, sightseeing, skiing, driving, helping each other draft work and articles, axe throwing, and generally just enjoying each other’s company.
The Proposal
It was on a balcony overlooking the streets of Heraklion on the island of Crete that Patrick and Elizabeth (both a little inebriated) worked up the courage to tell each other they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together. Thus even though he was reasonably confident in an affirmative answer, Patrick wanted to surprise Elizabeth with when and how he would propose to her. Sitting on his Marine Corps-issued main pack in the Mojave Desert after a two month training exercise, Patrick sweated through ring and diamond selection online using two bars of somewhat slow mobile connection. He had no idea so much went into a ring and sought out the counsel of several Marines. Ultimately, he was saved by Elizabeth’s friend Kiki who conducted exceptional and savvy espionage to determine exactly what kind of ring Elizabeth wanted.
Ring purchased, Patrick hit the road to Texas with Elizabeth a few months later. On the way he tried to tease out of her a location in Austin, Texas - a place he had never been - suitable to get engaged at on Christmas Day. Elizabeth proceeded to list about half a dozen spots that she enjoyed, making Patrick sweat, but ultimately settled on Mt. Bonnell. Patrick asked Jurgen, Elizabeth’s brother, to be the photographer and primary accomplice in having the proposal go smoothly. Good naturedly, and sympathetically understanding that Patrick had no idea of Texas geography, he drove almost 400 miles from Dallas to Austin and back again in one day to be present.
On the day, Patrick became extremely nervous. More nervous than he had been in years. More than when he was throwing live grenades, fast roping out of helicopters, jumping into water of frozen lakes, or really anything the Marines had him do. He figured Mt. Bonnell would give him time to work out his jitters on the walk up a mountain, but the name turned out to be a misnomer and he could see the top of Mt Bonnell about a few hundred yards from the bottom. On the walk up, Patrick had his heart in his throat, Elizabeth talked happily in blissful ignorance, and Jurgen was an amused facilitator.
Upon arriving at the top, the entire view was blocked by untrimmed bushes due to Covid furloughs. Elizabeth took a moment, shrugged her shoulders, and turned around to head back down. Patrick and Jurgen looked at each other in panic. Quick-thinking Jurgen suggested walking around for a better view, which the group found after a few minutes of exploring. Patrick decided it was good enough, asked Jurgen to take a picture, and dropped a knee. It was one of the happiest days of his life when a surprised Elizabeth nodded and grabbed his face for a kiss.