Hope and Tony first met each other in 2015 after Mass while both families were on vacation in Mexico. Hope's mom wanted her to go talk to the nice looking Catholic boy, but Hope was only interested in reading by the beach. She was finally convinced after learning that this mysterious boy was reading a book about World War II! She went and talked to him and they hit it off immediately. After that, the unlikely friends kept in touch over snail mail as Tony went through West Point's version of basic training. They stopped communicating frequently as Tony went through his freshman year and Hope went through real Basic Training. But God had different plans for them! Hope's family moved while she was at Basic Training and she started her senior year a little bit late at a new school in a new city. Tony reached out to her and they immediately picked up their friendship where they left off. Tony asked how the move was going, and Hope told him that it was going well- a nice group had invited her to Homecoming with them. Tony asked if it would be alright if he flew to Wisconsin to be Hope's Homecoming date. Of course she said yes!! That weekend (Columbus Day 2016) they began their dating adventure. Months passed and soon the couple began to start thinking about their future together. Tony came to Wisconsin in July and Hope's family invited him to the family cabin in northern Wisconsin. While there, late on the night of July 4, 2018, Tony took Hope on a canoe ride into the middle of the lake. He had filled the boat with glow sticks and the night was perfect- it even featured a shooting star and fireworks! While floating around, Tony kneeled down on one knee and asked Hope to marry him. The answer was a tearfully joyful YES! God has blessed us with each other and our supportive families. Thank YOU for being part of our extremely exciting and utterly un-average adventure!