Both drawn to public service, the change of administrations in January 2021 brought Blanchi back to the Department of Education where she started her career in education, while Chris uprooted from Connecticut to pursue a new professional challenge. For 14 months, they sat across from each other in a weekly staff meeting with neither paying much mind to the other. It wasn’t until a magical karaoke night where they sang a duet to “Yo No Se Mañana” and they both realized as the song says, “y los momentos hay que vivirlos."

When you know, you know. And in this case, they both knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with each other very early on into their relationship. After a spring and summer traveling from DC up the east coast and all the way to Belize, they found their way back to the Department of Education before going on a “date” where Chris, instead of pulling out a snack from his pocket which Blanchi had hoped for, he instead pulled out a ring, got down on one knee, and Blanchi yelled, “YES!”