Hi there. I'm Kat.

It all started at work. I joined Betterment and met the team. That's how I first met Alan. I thought he was funny, I guess. But, I didn't look twice. I mean, not until we started hanging out a couple years later. And I haven't looked away since!

Is that too corny? 🙃 Oh, I don't know what to say. Alan can take it from here — he's the storyteller.

———

Alright. Let's do this thing.

«In a pirate voice» 'Twas a dark & stormy night. We were all huddled close around the campfire, when someone said, "Captain! Tell us a story!" So the Captain said, "'Twas a dark & stormy night. We... Oh?

Ok. Kat's yelling at me. I'll get on with it.

Kat joined Betterment in 2012 and introduced herself as the first UX designer. I assume I said, "Hello," with a wave, and went back to whatever I was doing.

That's it. That's the story of how we met. I presume it's not exactly the thrilling tale you came here to read. Honestly, we didn't really paid much attention to each other for a while. A more interesting story is how became friends and, eventually, inseparable.

I first knew that my life would be better if I spent more time with Kat on a warm summer day in Cape Cod.

Kat hopped off a banana-seat bicycle, noticeably drunk, in a Betterment hoody. She sat on the grass near me, drawn to the spectacle of two grown men tackling each other in inflatable “sumo suits.” After a few minutes, she leans over and whispers, “I have hot dogs in my pocket. ... And salad in my hood. 😜”

That is the moment I knew. That’s when I knew that I’d marry her.

No, of course not. But, that is the moment she caught my attention. I realized that I wanted to spend as much time with her as I could, preferably in the very near future.

So, that’s what I did. We spent long weekends binging Bob’s Burgers and The League. Weeknights, I'd come over to cook fried chicken. During the week, we'd coordinate to get ice cream at Eataly between meetings. We couldn’t get enough of one another.

Then, after a few short months, I found myself sitting across from Kat in a crȇpe restaurant in Williamsburg. I, the pragmatist, and she, the dreamer, discussed whether we would “date.” After all, office romances are, well, fraught. Either things would end in a tumultuous, furious tempest of rage and tears — or we would go all the way.

I'm very happy that it was the latter. I can’t imagine a life without her.

Here’s to the next phase of our adventure together.

🐻❤️🐳