Gretchen and Jamie first met at the University of Pittsburgh in their freshman year at the first meeting of the American Sign Language club. As such, Gretchen didn’t know Jamie had an English accent for the first hour of knowing him! ASL club led to chatting at Starbucks, which led to many game nights, shared dining hall meals, and frisbee tosses.

After over a year of close friendship, Jamie finally asked Gretchen out at 1:00 AM while they were walking home from the library together. Gretchen was, for once, speechless. They sat on a bench behind Jamie’s dorm into the early morning, reintroducing themselves and sharing everything they thought the other needed to know.

Pittsburgh has many colorful statues of dinosaurs throughout it to advertise the Carnegie Museum’s Diplodocus skeleton (affectionately known to Pittsburghers as Dippy). Jamie knew that these dinosaurs were one thing that made Gretchen fall in love with the city, so he planned a driving tour to find and take Polaroids with all of them. After being ~85% successful in their scavenger hunt, Jamie took Gretchen to Mount Washington, a beautiful overlook of the city, and gave her a custom-made book comparing each dinosaur to their story together. After reading the book together, Jamie got down on one knee and asked the question. Gretchen (between giggles) said yes, met with cheering from onlookers and one particularly loud fog horn.

Gretchen and Jamie are still living in Pittsburgh with their two sweet and opinionated cats, Babka and Bialy. Jamie has been working hard as a nurse in UPMC Passavant’s intensive care unit. Gretchen is working as a speech-language pathologist at the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children. When they aren't working, they're cooking, playing games, and watching/correcting medical TV shows together. They've loved each other for over 5 years now, and they're excited to keep falling in love with each other for the rest of their lives.