When people ask how Emily and I met, I often kid around saying I messaged her on LinkedIn. Although this is far from the truth, our initial encounter was business related. It all began on July 31, 2023 at a networking happy hour provided by Young Catholic Professionals (YCP) at the Utopian Tailgate rooftop in Old Town - Chicago. The end of the night was approaching, and I found myself sitting in conversation at a picnic table with my friends Ben Rahimi and Evan Sadasivan. Little did I know that my future wife would be sitting across from me on the other side of the same table. How would I describe my initial glance over at Emily? The best words that come to mind is that she is equally beautiful and amiable - someone I really wanted to talk to and get to know. Feeling empowered and drawn to her, I made my way over towards her. Now there was some trickiness to navigate. To Emily's right sat a large man much stronger and perhaps better looking. His name reflected that of a Greek Philosopher - Socrates. My way in wasn't as disciplined as the Socratic Method that's for sure. Somehow I instinctively sat between them and made just enough space to strike up a conversation with Emily. Our conversation naturally flowed to what was most important to us: our faith story, our family background, and the local basset hounds! So where did these hounds come from all of a sudden in this story? It turns out that Emily and I discovered we lived down the street from each other in Lincoln Park because we both knew the same basset hounds from one of our local neighbors. After hearing about this and the rest of her amazing stories I knew she was unique. I asked if she had a boyfriend, and thankfully her answer was no! Then I asked if she'd like to go on a date sometime, and she said yes right away! Fast forward twenty four hours later, and before we even went on a date I ran into her walking Scout (you can say hi to him outside on the lower level) after work right at those same basset hounds in our neighborhood. I guess the Lord has a funny way of bringing two people (and dogs) together!