We're Getting Married

Mike and Alysia met at a barcade in Wilmington called 1984 (RIP) on Karaoke Night in January of 2017. 1984 was, unfortunately, shutdown because of covid. It was just a little dive bar with retro arcade games and beer. On Wednesday nights they had Karaoke. Alysia decided to check out karaoke night after hearing about it from DJ Drew who also hosted karaoke at the Applebees where Alysia frequented with her friends. Alysia and Mike met on that first night. AND THEN... they didn't talk to each other for a month. But Alysia was charmed by the skinny dude with spikey hair and glasses that complimented everyone on their performance. Mike was curious about the girl with purple hair and space buns who loved to sing Fleetwood Mac, so, on their second meeting, they finally exchanged numbers, and the rest is history.

Our first date started out…well…rocky… We aren't the biggest planners, and neither one of us thought to make a reservation on a Friday night. We started at Argilla's, but there was an hour wait and we were starving, so we tried Sushi Sumo instead, also an hour, then we went to Café Napoli and saw a line out the door. We finally settled at Rice on Limestone road. They couldn't seat us right away, but they had a sushi bar where we could at least sit and order a Sapporo while we waited for a table. We had a great first date over our sushi and beer. Now we're tying the knot and deciding to share sushi and sing karaoke together forever.

There are a lot of coincidences that Alysia and Mike learned about each other. Alysia and Mike were both born two weeks late, keeping everyone waiting in anticipation as both of our parents' first kids. We went to the same university, although not at the same time. We were even at the same anime convention, the same year, but didn't meet each other until a few years later. Looking back we're glad we met when we did because it was the perfect timing!

In April 2020, as the COVID-19 lockdown wore on and the price of paper products skyrocketed, Mike and Alysia found themselves bored to tears and desperate for a new challenge. Fortunately, Mike’s cross-country running experience and thorough knowledge of the White Clay and Brandywine Creek state park trail systems made for some beautiful and inspiring nature walks! Although Alysia refers to herself as “Indoors-y” even she couldn't help but get caught up in the sights and sounds of the woods of northern Delaware. The woods and crisp spring air was a healing balm and a refuge from a scary world during those difficult times for Mike and Alysia.