We're starting to realize, it is not taboo anymore to be honest about meeting on a dating site, so... Where to start? Oh HINGE! of all places... "the dating site meant to be deleted".... HA! Well, they got us there... Around the end of April 2022, we both swiped right...haha! We spoke for weeks, hours at night and finally we decided to meet! May 5th, 2022 at John Wright Restraunt we met for dinner where it felt like we had known each other for years. After about a month of dating, Sam asked me to be his date at a wedding for one of his fraternity brothers. He asked me "how should I introduce you?" Sam made jokes like "dime piece... sidekick... or friends?" I paused and realized, we had not established anything yet. So, June 2022, we called it official. Fast forward to September 2023, Sam proposed on the beach in Corolla, NC.. and on October 12th in 2024 we will say "I do!".

Sam, the clever man he is, had been planning to marry me from the beginning of our love story. Little did I know that the one day we went ring shopping, and found one I adored, he would go back the next day and purchase it. According to his family, and coworkers, he then got to work, making a wood box to hold the ring. From my understanding, he had various proposal plans... one of which, he finally decided on when we went to OBX this year for the annual Stoltzfus family trip. Setting the scene: Monday, September 25th, 2023: We are out at the beach... Sam went looking for "seashells"... with his mom. Once he returned, he got down on one knee and asked me to look at the shells he had collected. Me being suspicious, saw that he was on one knee, so I jokingly asked..."oh what’s in the shells?!"... Once I realized the ring, we had chosen months ago was actually laying there in front of me, in his hand, hidden within the shells. It was then that he said... "Miss. Deborah Nichols, will you marry me?" After a few "are you sure?! questions, I said... "OF COURSE!!” ... I mean, how could I not?!

One night, on the way home from visiting family, we passed a farm with a sign in their front yard stating, "Golden Retriever Puppies for Sale!". Sam asked me if I wanted to see what they had, which was probably an immediate regret when I yelled "yes!!! who do you think I am! turn around!" So... in the middle of the road, Sam turned around and pulled into the driveway. It was there that we met a lovely family who was raising a beautiful Golden lady. She had just had a litter of 14!! puppies. Without hesitation, they let all then 13 puppies out to play (one had already found their forever home). We were not focused on finding one, but seeing if one would find us. Sure enough, a little ball of fluff with a pink collar came over and flopped on Sam's foot. We took note of her and decided to give it a couple of days to think about it.... which did not last long because the next day, we went back to the farm and took our baby home. That sweetheart of a puppy has changed our lives and we would not trade her for the world!