Like any good love story, ours started with food. Young Sarah & Alex used to hang out at the neighbor's house (the Simons) who lived down the street. I went there almost every day after school to hang out with my best friend Meghan and Alex tagged along with his older brother Nick sometimes to hang out with Mark. (Meghan & Mark are siblings). The Simons had the best after-school snacks, and we all loved hanging out there. We think this is where our paths first crossed. Alex's cousin, Jose was also best friends with my brother Josh growing up, which is another big reason we knew each other. Could also have been that we both played for the McHenry Vipers soccer teams and had practices and games at similar locations over the years. Whichever it was, it all started in McHenry. Over the years, we shared a friendship. On my last day of high school, Alex had asked what my favorite candy was (again with the snacks) and bought me Swedish fish and wrote a goodbye/good luck at college note. We went to separate colleges, both in Chicago but were a few grades apart so we didn't stay in touch as much. Not until the summer of 2020. I posted a snapchat story that Alex responded to with the fire emoji, and the rest is history. We reconnected and realized how our interests and personalities as adults aligned. We dated during Covid, semi-long distance from Mchenry to Chicago for a couple years but realized we wanted to be together all the time. So, we moved into Lakeview together in July 2023. We got engaged over Labor Day (2024) weekend in my favorite place, Sawyer Michigan. Alex planned the most beautiful and thoughtful proposal. We cannot wait to start a new chapter together as Mr. & Mrs. Almazan, where there will always be a candy dish and notes written with love. Sidenote, our snapchat streak is currently at 1,113 days. That's 3 years of sending each other a picture a day!!!