During the pandemic, Joel put up a post wanting someone to practice German with, I volunteered, and we finally got to know each other more intimately. Turns out even mistranslating every other word was hot (heiße?!). At the end of the pandemic, Joel flew out to surprise me while I was performing at my mother's dance studio in Spokane, and from then on we were nearly inseparable. He moved in, and we married three years later!

We performed a dance demo just before midnight at a New Year's Eve swing event, in front of 500 friends and colleagues. Chantelle didn't know it yet, but I'd hidden a ring in my jacket and made a quiet deal with myself: if our dance went well I would ask her right then, and if it didn't... well, I'd figure something out. Thankfully, the dance went beautifully! When I rolled Chantelle out for our final bow, I dropped to one knee as the audience gasped, and we rang in the new year engaged.

For us, $20,000 is about protecting a future family. We love the careers we've built in motion, dancing and teaching worldwide, and stepping away now would cost us hard-won momentum. But as a 38-year-old professional dancer, I know my career and my fertility are on different clocks. This money would go toward fertility resources, so we can keep dancing fully today and still build the family we dream about later, without being forced to choose between the two.