Jackie and Mike met at Dobbs dining hall at Mizzou in the fall of 2014 when Jackie tagged along with Katie Lynch (now Katie Connolly) to get a free meal from Katie's freshman cousin. They didn't become close friends until Jackie moved back to St. Louis in 2020 for nursing school. Over the next couple years Mike and Jackie remained good friends until January 2023 when Mike asked Jackie to attend his company holiday dinner. According to Mike this was their first date, but if you ask Jackie their first date was the next week at a St. Louis Blues game. Safe to say they can both agree that the holiday dinner was the start of something special and the rest is history!