Forever and Always

August 2010 – May 2015: During this time, Lauren and Mike were both attending Lebanon Valley College (LVC). The college itself is very small in comparison to others and mostly everyone knew each other on campus. Somehow, Lauren and Mike managed to go five years without ever having exchanged a single word. Despite this, Mike certainly had eyes for Lauren early on. January 20, 2019 at 2:26am: With the help of some liquid courage from a long night out, Mike messaged Lauren for the very first time admitting he had a crush on her from their time in college. While she was flattered by Mike’s late night effort, Lauren was a bit apprehensive. March 16, 2019: After a couple months of texting, Lauren and Mike had similar St. Patrick’s Day plans in Philadelphia and agreed to meet up at some point during the day. This would be the first time they had any sort of in-person interaction. That night, they met at Buffalo Billiards; Mike bought Lauren and her friends some drinks, they bar-hopped, and grew closer while tracking down his ID that he lost (as per usual) in their travels. April 5, 2019: Lauren and Mike’s official first date. Mike was in Hershey to attend LVC lacrosse team’s annual charity game, and Lauren had a continuing education class on campus. Mike booked a dinner at Devon for their first date and arrived 30 minutes early to get a drink at the bar to calm his nerves. Lauren arrived only a couple of minutes late, and while each of them were nervous, the meal was filled with good food and even better conversation. April – July 2019: Lauren and Mike continued to talk and met up on a few more occasions. Things were really looking promising for them! July 29, 2019: A Monday… Mike had cancelled weekend plans with Lauren last minute so he could pack for a trip to Spain with friends. After a couple days of delayed text responses, Lauren finally suggested that it might be best that she and Mike just remain friends. August 2019 – August 2020: An interesting time for Mike... This year-plus was filled with a countless number of bad Hinge and Bumble dates, ridiculous stories and encounters far too graphic to outline here, the introduction of a global pandemic, and the entire world shutting down after he moved out on his own. Perhaps worst of all, this was 13 months of Mike missing HER. You can ask most of Mike’s friends and they’ll all tell you how no one seemed to compare to Lauren in his eyes. Fortunately, in August 2020, Mike had one coworker that convinced him to reach out to Lauren for a second chance. September 12, 2020: After reaching out in August, Mike somehow managed to convince Lauren to drive up to New York and visit him for the weekend after not having seen or spoken to him in over a year. I know, sounds nuts… I think Mike pulled the birthday card and guilt-tripped Lauren into visiting as a birthday present (his birthday is September 9th). On Saturday, September 12th, Lauren and Mike had their second "first date" at Prime in Huntington, NY – a restaurant which now holds a special place in their relationship’s history and is still one of their favorite spots to this day. The rest is history. Mike didn’t screw up his second chance, and the two have had a number of milestones and memorable experiences together since. Now, the two will be getting married and starting the rest of their lives together on October 5, 2024, down the street from the place where it all began – Hershey, PA. Some other important dates: October 17, 2020 – Paint and sip night in Bay Shore. The night Mike knew he fell in love. November 13, 2020 – Lauren and Mike became “official”. November 28, 2020 – Lauren and Mike said the “L” word for the very first time. May 24, 2022 – Lauren and Mike bought their first home in Bridgeport, PA. June 18, 2022 – Lauren and Mike officially move in together. January 25, 2023 – Mike proposed to Lauren in their home. January 26, 2023 until FOREVER - The Best is Yet to Come!