Ivy first noticed Calvin in 2016, when she came across a fundraiser card featuring him and his favorite stuffed tiger, captioned “The Real Life Calvin and Hobbes.” As an avid fan of the comics, the reference instantly caught her attention and stuck with her.

Not long after, their first real-life encounter followed. During Memorial Day services in Duluth, a sixth-grade Calvin and his friends were busy building a fort in the woods, while Ivy quietly supplied the wood. Despite the teamwork, they didn’t exchange a single word.

For years, they remained just within each other’s orbit – passing moments, familiar faces, but nothing more. That changed one day at the Minneapolis church, when Calvin held the front door open for Ivy and couldn’t help but do a slightly dopey, very obvious double take. Ivy smirked. In that moment, something unspoken but hoped for became clear: the feeling was mutual.

On July 25th, 2021, they made it official when they started dating. But through the years, where they were heading felt like a foregone conclusion – there had always been a quiet understanding that this was something lasting, something they would carry with them for the rest of their lives.

On the evening of October 9th, 2025, Calvin brought Ivy back to that same church under the pretense of “picking up some tools.” When they arrived, he led her to the front entrance and proposed to her, right where their story began.