We have known each other since pre-school, but we were never really friends growing up. We never had any classes together until senior year of high school. As fate would have it, we both took a mythology class and the rest was history. Our seats were assigned next to each other on the first day. The teacher told us she feng-shuied and seated us according to astrological compatibility. Our teacher was a matchmaker and didn't even know it! With each day that passed, a friendship blossomed, and soon enough, we were both crushing on each other pretty hard. Pat was skipping his class after mythology to hang out with me in study hall and even joined an afterschool club that he heard I belonged to. We started seeing each other through mutual friends and went to get ice cream and froyo together on our own. It wasn’t long before we knew we wanted to be together. Come prom night, we were drawn to each other and during a slow dance to the song “All of Me”, Pat felt it was the perfect time to ask me to be his girlfriend. Of course I said yes. It's been an amazing 9 years ever since.

It was our 8 year anniversary and Pat had a romantic day all planned out for us. Each part of the day was a pleasant surprise to me. It was a gorgeous day so we started out playing mini golf down at Nolan's Point alongside views of Lake Hopatcong. It's one of our favorite spots around town. Afterwards, we grabbed drinks at the Windlass. Pat had brought his mini phone tripod and we took cute photos with it throughout the day. Later on, we had dinner at Il Porto on the Lake Mohawk boardwalk. I had said many times that I had always wanted to eat there so it was a nice surprise when we arrived. I'm sure Pat was very nervous and it didn't help that the sun was beaming down right on us. It was a great meal and an even better date. Afterwards, we walked around and had some ice cream. The Lake Mohawk boardwalk is one of our first and favorite date spots because we can sit together and look out at the lake. Just as the sun was setting, we took a walk down to the docks and along the water. Pat suggested we take a photo for our anniversary so he set up his tripod. The whole time I thought we were taking a photo, little did I know he was actually taking a video of himself proposing to me. It was so romantic and sweet. He was so sly about the whole thing. The whole day was perfect. I was hopeful all along that he was going to propose, but I was so surprised when it really happened. I had been pestering him for a while about getting engaged, but in the end, it was definitely worth the wait!