We met through the Wonnacott residential life team at Middlebury College. Her first impression was "this guy was everyone's FYC (first year counselor), he's old". His first impression was "Oh she's cute". Then, we went on our first date to get "some of dat froyo" in town and joining in on a club's nerf gun battle.

We had been living together for almost a year and started talking about getting engaged for a couple of months. Little did she know, he had been carrying around the ring waiting for the perfect opportunity. After getting accepted into Wake Forest's PA program, Christina suggested we dress up and go out for tapas at Isabella's to celebrate. The dinner was warm and delicious. We went for an after-dinner stroll in the wintery streets filled with twinkling string lights. He guided her towards the beautifully lit bridge over Carroll's Creek. He had the biggest smile on his face. She could tell he was up to something from how giddy he was. Then, he got down on one knee and opened the ring box upside down and proposed.

Since our engagement, we have moved from Frederick, MD to Winston Salem, NC. Christina has graduated from Wake Forest School of Medicine's Physician Assistant program and began working in OBGYN October 2021. She is doing great in her new job and absolutely loves women's health and pregnant bellies! Joel continues to work remotely as a Software Engineer. He currently works at Reading Plus, now Dreambox Learning, a company that develops a platform for students to learn how read better and faster-- and now also learn math!

We wanted to keep our anniversary date of 09/21, so we officially signed our marriage license on 09/21/22 after a lucky 8 years of being together. However, Wednesdays are not great days to host a wedding, which is why we are excited to celebrate with everyone on Sunday 09/25/22.

Our dream honeymoon destination is Japan, but COVID travel restrictions have put that on pause. Instead, we are planning to go on a mini honeymoon to Los Angeles, CA to enjoy some good food and beaches. Hopefully, we can go to Japan for our 1 year anniversary! 🤞💕

We plan to settle down in North Carolina. This place offers a good balance in nature and city life. We love being close to the mountains, forests, ocean, and a smaller city setting. For the time being, we will be staying in Winston Salem while Christina continues to gain experience in her career over the next few years. Eventually living near Charlotte or Raleigh would be ideal. We dream of living in a large house with a huge kitchen where Christina can cook new and delicious recipes and a game room where Joel can one day start streaming his amazing video game skills and a spacious yard where our future children can run around.