How did you two meet?

Mary: We met online, but not in the conventional way. We started talking on an online running forum on Reddit (/r/c25k). It started out just commenting on each other’s posts. When it was obvious that I really wanted to talk more to this guy I suggested Snapchat. The messages disappear and it’s easy to block people. Gotta stay safe in the internet age, right? One of the reasons I enjoyed talking with him was he was funny and smart. Right off the bat I noticed he could easily keep pace with my sense of humor and intelligence, which is sometimes hard to do entirely over text.

(Cont.) Pretty quickly I found that I was sad that our messages were disappearing. I REALLY liked the conversations we had. So we swapped numbers. At the end of those first two weeks he admitted that his text message usage had gone from basically zero to, like, 5000. Our first phone call a few days later lasted EIGHT hours. It was surreal. 

I remember once early in our conversations saying “I wished you lived nearby, I think I’d really like to get to know you”. Well it turns out he did! Sorta… I live in Reno, NV, he lived in Salt Lake City, UT. While not super close, it was close enough that visiting was certainly not out of the question, so I invited him out to Reno for New Year’s Eve.

How did you know that they were “The One?”

Mary: I came home from work one night and I noticed some dishes on the counter that I knew had been in the dishwasher. Confused, I asked him, “did you do the dishes?” He said, “oh yeah, I noticed the dishwasher wasn’t fully loaded, so I decided to clean out the sink and load it. Then it was pretty full, so I ran it but I left a few things that I wasn’t sure where they went.” I had never had someone do this for me before. I had lived with partners before and no one had ever just done a chore because it needed to be done. I’d always had to ask them to do it. I knew this relationship was different. I knew I was dealing someone more mature, more grounded, and more supportive.

Tell me about the proposal

Russell: It was really nice and simple. It happened at the end of the day while we were laying in bed talking. I had the ring hidden away next to the bed so I turned to grab it. She asked what I was doing and I just said I was checking my phone. I put the ring around my finger and closed my hand and turned back around. We talked a little more, then I pulled the ring out and asked her to marry me.

What is your favorite thing about one another?

Mary: My favorite thing about Russ is how he supports me as fully myself. I can tell him anything and he is never judgemental. I once explained that I was having a bad mental health day and said I was sorry for making us change our plans. He looked at me and said “you never have to apologize to me.”

Russ: If I had to pick one thing it would be her intelligence. There’s so many things about her that are my “favorites,” though. Her kindness, her beauty, her ability to make me smile…