On a seemingly-normal Sunday morning on August 27th, 2023, Jae walked into a middle school cafeteria set up for church in Madison Heights, Virginia. Chris saw her from across the room - she was beautiful, and he knew he had to talk to her. As the church service wrapped up, and the chairs were being stacked and moved all around them, he introduced himself. The rest is history. - Chris ~ ~ ~ ~ Well, Chris, how we love your way with words, but oh how you left out the DEETS! Dearest reader, I walked into a cafeteria church much earlier than my very fashionably late friends Lydia and Aaron (Evelyn, who was just a baby, shall take no blame for her parents actions of consistent tardiness…TBD if this trait is hereditary). Saturday I had driven all the way down to VA from MA in one go. Eyes were so tired it felt like they needed to lay on a block of ice by Sunday. There was this flowy haired guy sitting in the back of the caf. I grabbed seats for my squad and proceeded to be a potato from exhaustion. The fashionably late L&A squad arrives. Well, during the sermon the pastor called out some names on who can help show where the chairs needed to be stored away post-sermon. Tiredly I’m starting to stack chairs, then this Jesus lookalike (same flowy haired guy) comes up to me to chat. It’s clear what he’s doing. All the guys are staring at him and I’m confused why. We talk about what we do and why we are both here. A kind woman with a child comes up to talk to Chris and cuts our convo short. I gently bow out of the convo and Chris gives me pleading eyes as he fears his chance is over 🥺. I tell him we will chat later….no clue if the Jesus wannabe would come back to me, lol. Well, reader, he most certainly came back later and I gave him my number. HERES THE 🫖…. Come to find out…the pastor had told everyone CHRIS was supposed to show them where to put the chairs! This man never heard the pastor because he was too busy asking around if people knew who I was. Boy, I would be staring at him too if I knew that! 👀 - Jae

Chris flew up to Boston on the last day of January, keeping the ring box close as he traveled, and by that evening it had already started snowing. The next morning, Chris and Jae went to look at some houses in New Hampshire and got Dunkin Donuts (a New England staple) as they were HUNGRY. Before heading back, they took Lola, Jae's lovable and sassy Australian Shepherd, on a walk down a pristine snowy trail (see photo below as evidence). Jae wasn't particularly prepared for the walk and was still battling a brutal cough so her stylish flowy pants meant her ankles were freezing - "I can fix that," said Chris, as he tied her pants to her shoes (the *hottest* of looks for a proposal). Lola, off her leash, bounded through the snow. When they got to the bend in the trail by the flowing river, they were all alone and surrounded by the muted silence of the snow and the soft sound of the water. Chris got down on one knee and pulled out the ring, noting the thought that went into its design - five stones for his commitment to upholding the instructions for marriage of Ephesians 5:22-33. With the diamonds sparkling even more than the snow around them, he asked Jae to marry him, and Jae gleefully said yes! (then coughed everywhere 😂) Oh, what a memory! ❤️🤧💍