Sam saw Rob at Salem's Eucharistic Minister Induction Mass (Salem will forever think he is due credit). They met a month later at Theology on Tap at Wicked Barley, where the Bishop was speaking that evening. Sam boldly walked up to Rob and introduced herself as she was walking out. They exchanged numbers and ran into each other several times over the course of the next 6 months. Finally, after Sam rocked the YCP Gala that she hosted (and looked good doing it), Rob couldn't help himself. He asked her out a week later. They met for MOJO Barbecue on Sam's one-hour lunch break and again two days later for drinks at The Local. The rest is history!
On a rainy morning in December, exactly one year and one day after Rob & Sam's first date, Rob planned to propose to Sam. He had already spoken to her dad, told her best friends, and had 15 plans for back up. He used plan #4 at least because Sam kept messing them up. After of few days of being sick, Sam agreed to go to St. Augustine for what Rob said would be just breakfast at The Blue Hen and a Holy Hour at the Cathedral. The problem was Sam was too full after breakfast to sit in a Church for any amount of time. So she suggested a walk... in the rain. They looked goofy with their jackets zipped up high, stepping over branches at the Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche Mission Grounds. So they entered the historic chapel and prayed the Magnificat together and silently apart. Rob sat down after praying and realized this was a perfect moment - alone in a chapel with the sound of rain trickling from the rooftop - and he had to seize it! And so, when Sam sat down next to him, he fumbled through his jacket and got down on one knee. Sam thought he was kidding at first, but upon realizing the reality of the moment, tears of joy came flowing. She said yes!!