We're Getting Married!

Our journey officially started in room 403, Mrs. Barzilai’s physics class, junior year at Hopewell Valley Central High School. We had mutual friends and parking spots right next to each other, but we were more acquaintances than anything at the start of the year. At the beginning of every marking period, Mrs. Barzilai would assign new lab partners, and happened to put us at a table together. We got to sit side by side sparking my favorite friendship. We would spend class learning ~of course~ but also sharing memes from Imgur and laughing until we got yelled at. I will never forget the days Luke would come to his seat with a box of tissues because we would laugh so hard he would cry! We hit it off and got closer. We spent the summer together and made it official a few weeks before senior year. I am a sucker for all things moon and stars and there happens to be a meteor shower every year in August. The only thing was that the peak time to see the meteor shower is in the middle of the night. So we decided to drive to St. Michael’s preserve with some blankets and set up a cozy spot to look at the sky. It ended up raining the whole night but before we fell asleep on the benches, Luke asked me to be his girlfriend! We spent senior officially as boyfriend and girlfriend, went to Senior Prom together, and did a lot of hanging out with our crew of friends. We graduated Hopewell Valley Central High School together in 2014. Then Luke went to West Chester University of Pennsylvania. We did "long distance" for 4 years. Luckily it was a quick trip down the highway so it was more like short distance! It felt like a home away from home since he was there. I was able to join in on many of the fun festivities of college and spend time with the most amazing group of friends who also welcomed me in like family. He graduated West Chester *Summa Cum Laude* in 2018 and moved back to our hometown where we both worked and lived at our parents houses. Then in November 2021, we moved into our first apartment together, 807, with our cat Luna and have been there for 3 years! p.s. If you've noticed the title for this section, LAG, it stands for Luke and Gab and has been carved into many trees and tables over the years (:

It was our 8 year dating anniversary and the only Friday the 13th of 2021. This day was anything but bad luck. We wanted to make the most out of the day so it started off bright and early watching the sunrise together at a bird lookout, listening to the birds chirp, and just taking in the start of our special day. Little did I know Luke was keeping a pretty big secret from me! We then stopped to get breakfast and then got our cars inspected because what’s more romantic than spending your anniversary in line for the DMV (: Then we went back home to relax until our dinner date. We got to eat the most amazing meal at Brick Farm Tavern and shared a few cocktails while enjoying each other’s company. After our meal we headed around the corner to St. Michael’s Preserve, the spot of our first date, where the sky was mostly overcast with a perfect sliver of sunset saved for us to gaze at and reminisce on our love story. This is when Luke grabbed me and said “I can’t believe it’s been 8 years, let’s keep it going” and got down on one knee! I got to say "YES!" to marry not only my boyfriend of 8 years but my best friend of 8 years!!!! We celebrated with some champagne, danced, cried, laughed, and watched as the most beautiful sunset shined down on us.