Hold on through tragedy after tragedy

When Rachel Seals teamed up with Elliott Averett on Bumble in October 2016, his profile mentioned rugged “Parks and Recreation” character Ron Swanson as a role model. “I told him Ron Swanson-esque didn’t like dating apps very much,” Ms. Seals recalls.

But he loves the outdoors. Averett, 29, grew up on a cattle ranch in Baker City, Ore., and spends his days hiking, camping and skiing. Ms Seals, 28, who lives in Chino Hills, Calif., said: “He loves a good game of rodeo, said she” goes to private school, plays volleyball and is worried about returning to her hometown. “.

Their first date came a week after they matched on Bumble, at Oddfellows Café and Bar in Seattle, where the two were living at the time. Seals, who has a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Seattle University, is working as a nurse at Highline Medical Center, now St. Anne, in Burien, Wash. Seattle Police Department.

That date was the first time they’d dated for three days in a row. “We got to know each other pretty quickly,” Ms. Seals said, and the two make time for each other despite their conflicting schedules. “I worked every night; Elliott is working the days,” she said.

Mr. Averett said, “I told Rachel I loved her a month after we started dating.” The relationship was less than a year, a tragedy struck that made them become closer.

On September 4, 2017, Mr. Averett’s mother, a former Seattle Police Department detective, was involved in an accident on the family ranch in Baker City, Ore. She was kicked by a bull and died from her injuries. Mr Averett said: “It was an odd thing.

Ms. Seals later recalled him telling her over the phone, “My mother is dead.”

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Mr Averett said: “I really think it’s remarkable that Rachel didn’t bail me out. “I’m a complete wreck.” That same year, Mr. Averett and Mrs. Seals each lost a grandmother; Her family dog ​​Seals also passed away. “It was like someone was putting our heads in the water and we couldn’t get our breath back,” Ms Seals said.

A bright spot appeared a few years later, on May 21, 2019, when Mr. Averett proposed in the backyard of the cafe where they had their first date. A few months later, the couple moved to Silver Spring, M. Ms. Seals is now a labor and delivery nurse at George Washington University Hospital. Mr. Averett is finishing his third year at the Georgetown University Law Center.

“I wanted to be a police officer because my mother did,” he said, but, “I always wanted to go to law school.”

Their wedding on January 8 took place at the Padua Hills Theater in Claremont, California. At the ceremony, held in an open-air gazebo, Douglas Raguso-Hove, Mr. Averett’s former sergeant major who had been ordained by the Church of Universal Life, previously celebrated some 125 vaccinated guests. .

The in-house reception then included a fog machine, smoke generator, glow stick and DJ-played headband – accessories the couple happened to use for impromptu cake cutting.

“When we were planning, my only goal for our wedding was, ‘Let’s have a party,’” Ms. Seals said. “After dinner, it was like, ‘It’s a party now. “

For Mr. Averett, the celebration was a long time coming. He has been certain he wants to marry Miss Seals since late 2018, when Mr. Raguso-Hove asked him if he thought he could live without her, and he said, “I know. The answer is no.”