a texas-sized celebration

Like many Millennials, Leah and Joe's story starts online. We connected through Hinge and immediately hit it off. After a night out at Hopewell, a few beers, and a bowl of spinach-artichoke dip, both of us went home feeling that this one was something special. That Fall in 2019, we probably had over 10,000 miles between the two of us in travel. Chicago, Houston, Grand Rapids, Sao Paulo, just to name a few. Despite the travel we continually stayed in touch, sending funny memes and looking forward to the next weekend we'd both be back in Boston. Then, as with all things, an unexpected change became the most pressing issue. Joe was offered a new role at his company, and with the promotion came the need to move to Dallas. While exciting, there was certainly concern that a long-distance relationship wouldn't last, or even if it was worth keeping the relationship at all. But Leah offered to keep Joe company on his road trip from Boston to Dallas. Surely, a 28 hour car ride would be the trust test of who a person truly is. Along the way we had the chance to meet our respective best friends from college. First, the now Mr. and Mrs. Joe and Emily Bonitatibus in New York. Then, the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Kevin and Olivia Warren in North Carolina. Finally after 3 days of exchanging fun facts and long term goals (and commenting on roadside oddities), we made it to Dallas in February 2020 and began to settle in. While Leah's trip was complete and had to return to Boston, it wouldn't be for long. With the outbreak of COVID, Leah again had a choice to make, head home to Maine, or head to Dallas to wait out the "2 weeks to stop the spread". It was March 2020 when Leah made the flight down, and those 2 weeks quickly turned into 2 years. Though Walpole and Readfield will always be home, we are proud to call Dallas the home of our new life together.

After a long year of COVID Joe, Leah, and Bubba travelled back north to celebrate the holidays with the Bley and Rockwood families in December 2020. While in Maine, Joe and Jerry decided to go for walk in the woods with the dogs before dinner. After a scenic hike through the wintery woods of Readfield, Joe mustered up the courage to ask for Jerry's permission to propose to Leah. Jerry was shocked, but absolutely thrilled! Of course he would give his permission. Now the question was how to pop the question... Throughout 2021, a common activity that Joe and Leah used to entertain guests was TopGolf. Who doesn't love good drinks and playing the driving-range version of Angry Birds? As we continued to play more, Leah took an interest in golf, to the point that she wanted to start play "real" golf. So Joe and Leah started playing together at a local golf course in Carrollton, and an idea started taking shape.... Once Joe had the ring, he had a few ideas that could work. But ultimately, he thought it would make most sense to pop the question while doing something they both enjoyed. So, on December 5th, after a few close calls with unexpected plans, Joe and Leah their way to the course for what seemed to be just another round. On the 9th hole, Joe went to retrieve his ball from the hole and stayed there on one knee to pop the question!