A modern day love story-we met online! I (Christa) liked one of Dexter’s pictures, Dexter sent the first message, and the rest was history. A first date during covid meant thinking outside of the usual-dinner-and-drinks box. Luckily, our first date was on an unusually warm November day in 2020 (75 degrees!), so we were able to be outside comfortably. We met at Welles Park in Lincoln Square, Chicago on a sunny afternoon, and thank goodness it was nice outside, because the date lasted five whole hours! Five hours of us talking about our family, friends, jobs, travel, favorite foods, music, movies, TV shows, and more. We both left thinking the date could have lasted five more hours, there was so much we wanted to know about each other! From there, we continued to experience new milestones together such as meeting the kids, meeting each others’ friends and families, our first roadtrip together (during a whiteout blizzard, the same day we became official), our first international vacation together, and our first apartment together as a unit of 4 (+Junie, our silly pup). Fast forward to June 10, 2024, on a picnic back at the place where it all began, Welles Park. As we were walking back to the car to leave at the end of the picnic, Dexter dropped (well, threw) his sunglasses to get me to turn around. As I turned, there he was, down on one knee with the most beautiful ring in hand, and the most perfect smile on his face. It was the easiest ‘yes’ to agree to marry Dexter. And now here we are, preparing for our wedding day! We are so lucky to have found each other to build a home and life together, and to have such a huge support system cheering us on! We are so excited to celebrate this new chapter on July 31, 2026!