I took a shift I wasn't supposed to. She walked up for her photo, a Brazilian exchange student with three last names. instantly forgot and couldn't find her online no matter how I tried. Weeks later she shows up at my house needing to use a restroom. I was so shocked I just pointed and watched her leave. The universe gave us a third try through mutual friends and dated briefly but eventually she moved home. We reconnected virtually during Covid and this time I wasn't letting go.

Mead said we were attending a premiere for a student film he starred in. I dressed up for someone else's movie. The lights went down and the screen filled with us: a montage of our whole improbable story, in a theater he'd rented in secret. Then he knelt. The twist even he didn't see coming: the manager had brought videographers and lit the room like a film set. So our proposal isn't just a memory it's footage we'll replay forever, both of us caught mid-surprise.

We carry a little debt, and clearing it matters but it's the smallest part. Most of this buys time with Suellen's family in Brazil and a head start on the family we want to build ourselves. The rest backs the dreams we've had to put on hold, Sue is growing as an engineer, and programs would push her further; Mead writes, directs, and makes music, and real funding could turn his projects from late nights into something the world actually sees.