(Pictures below)

In 1999, the world’s population achieved a momentous milestone, surpassing 6 billion. As Jaimee and Alex were born that year, you could say they were each 1 in a [6] billion!

18 years later, Jaimee and Alex both found themselves attending Arizona State University. She was studying mechanical engineering and he was studying computer science. In November 2017, the school put on an event called “Devils Invent”, where students would be given a prompt and then have all weekend to work in groups to invent a product and create a prototype. After briefly trying to help a cute girl with a broken soldering iron one afternoon, Alex decided to talk to her more if given the chance.

Well, later that night Jaimee decided to try and cut a large, square hole using a drill, which was probably not the best choice and took quite a long time to do. Luckily, Alex took this opportunity and stayed for hours longer than he needed to chat with the girl (and also to her roommate, shout-out to the maid of honor!). After winning the competition, Alex got Jaimee’s number and texting soon led to dating, which led to Alex asking “Is it okay if I tell people I have a girlfriend?” on December 7, 2017.

The next few years were full of adventures for Alex and Jaimee. They went to club events and dances together, walked all around campus (and found the best dessert places), visited aquariums and museums, attended art fairs, traveled up north to the mountains, went to Disneyland/Universal Studios, and shared countless meals over various shows and movies. They experienced 3 dorm moves together and the start of a global pandemic, which isn’t too bad when you get to be trapped inside with your favorite person.

Towards the end of senior year, Jaimee and Alex knew they wanted to make it official. Unfortunately, with Covid-19 still going strong, a nice night out would have been a bit of a giveaway. So the two planned a few fun dates and Jaimee waited (not so patiently) to see which one it would be. On March 6, 2021, Alex and Jaimee went out to explore their old haunts around campus. First they walked over to an ice cream shop and went to sit with their cones in a lovely gazebo that was right around the corner…or at least it used to be. What they found instead of the gazebo was a construction zone, and Jaimee would later note that Alex seemed a bit too upset about this.

They continued their journey up “A” Mountain (a small butte with a giant “A” on it) and went off to a secluded overlook. They took in the lights of Tempe at night and reminisced about all the places they had visited together over the last few years. Finally, Alex got down on one knee and asked “Is it okay if I tell them [that I’m engaged]?”

The newly engaged couple finished school and then packed up all of their belongings in a U-Haul, driving it across the country to their new home in Maryland. Within weeks of their arrival, Alex and Jaimee (okay maybe a little bit more Jaimee) found two adorable kittens to adopt and brought home Avacado and Radish. Since then, they’ve been working, wedding planning, playing with their kittens, and still adventuring together. They can’t wait to celebrate the continuation of their love story with all of you in November, as they become 1 in a [Ver]million!

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