Pati and I first met when he came to a small, spring concert with my family. We were JUST friends for a long time, probably a year or so, when out of the blue I got jealous that Pati was talking to another girl. Why, you might ask??? Because I liked him. Not to long after, Pati started turning up the heat: asking me to do things with him and to my shock telling me he was going to be with me, telling me our little excursions together had been "dates". His confidence was very appealing and our friendship-love grew to be love-love, love that initially grew out of faith & a mutual love for good music! A few of the ways I knew he could be the right person for me: his love for kids, his love for the elderly, his love for music, the fact that love, forgiveness, total acceptance, and hard work all come so easy to him. Those qualities bode well for a long lifetime together. We started as friends, morphed into something more. We dated and did life together for a year in Portland, my seaside home, eating pizza from the box by the beach at Willard, having ice-cream-only dates, pestering and learning all about each other. We saw all the seasons change with each other, and in late July, we got engaged. The nights after we got engaged we'd sit together and hold hands and talk about the future. The future is brighter together. The days feel sunnier, and we have a common goal, to go through life loving people & each other better everyday. We push each other to grow, to aim higher professionally, personally, and spiritually, but are a safe landing place for being exactly who we are each day. It's the perfect give and take. Many things about us are different, but our values are the same: faith, family, food. We can't wait to share our wedding day, and our love with all of you, the people we love most!

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On July 21, 2019, the HOTTEST day of the summer, Pati told me we should go for a drive, something we do from time to time, and we took off to Lands End, on Bailey Island. We parked at the end and wandered around to the rocks, facing the ocean and Pati suggested we have a competition to see who can write the best love-letter in ten minutes, loser buys the other dinner. Confident in my writing abilities, I told him I looked forward to him buying me dinner. We sat and wrote out our thoughts in the early evening bliss and decided to announce the winner at the Giant Stairs (a large natural rock formation that looks like giant steps going into the ocean), around the corner. We drove back, walked down the winding coastal path to the stairs and hopped down between the (steaming hot) rocks. I read mine first, and Pati read his second. At the end of a full-blown profession of love for me in which I nearly blacked out, Pati knelt down on one knee, opened up a little black jewelry box that had my Mom & Dad’s engagement ring, and asked me to marry him. I of COURSE said YES. The ring was never sized to my hand, and it fit perfectly. Pati proposed to me in the privacy of the Giant Stairs, with not a soul around, just how I wanted. I had fought him on the whole idea of proposing, as marriage was something we had long discussed – but he left me with the sweetest memory and I’m surprised to admit that every time I think about us getting engaged I get so giddy – there was so much joy, RELIEF, and love. And here we are! Needless to say, I had to buy him dinner.