On Valentine's Day at Hofstra University, Carissa walked past Joe in a Cocalico High School sweatshirt. He couldn't believe that a beautiful girl, from all the way back home in Central PA, was there on Long Island. As fate would have it, the field hockey training and weight room was under construction, so the team had to use the lacrosse facilities. When Joe saw her again in the training room he knew he had to say something. Say something he did and Carissa tried to give him the cold shoulder. Joe was persistent and here we are eight plus years later..

FINALLY! After making it through college, nursing school, and some tough jobs the moment came everyone was waiting for! Joe got a ring, unknowingly only days before Carissa convinced Joe to go to Brandywine Valley SPCA to "just look" at all the dogs that were flown in from Texas and Louisiana. That night, a one and a half year old chocolate lab they named Duke came home with them and Joe's plans were put on hold. The hard part would be surprising Carissa, so Joe began to get creative. Using some help from Carissa's best friend, Allie, she got Carissa to go on a walk with her at Middle Creek, a wildlife preserve that Carissa and Joe used to go on dates at early in their relationship. Joe reached out to a lot of meaningful people in Carissa's life to talk about her or the relationship and using his video editing skills, made a video for her to watch. He left that on the trail for her to find and when she finished watching, Joe came out and got down on one knee to pop the question.