Jacob will say the first time he saw Abbie was on her New Hire tour around the office building. Abbie will say their first interaction was a 30-second conversation where he mentioned a trip to Costa Rica and that he lived in Salisbury a few months after she started. They both will say that a Savage Race started it all. After about a year of working at the same company but in different areas, Jacob decided to organize a company team to participate in a Savage Race in May of 2024. Abbie wanted to connect more with her colleagues and decided to "brave the new" and commit to the race, not knowing who would be there and what to expect. To her surprise, she met Jacob and his two friends (the two best men!) for the day, which meant that she was the ONLY other work member in attendance. After a bit of a laugh and what turned out to be a great experience, despite the pre-race nerves, they went on their separate ways with a newfound work connection. Over the course of the next couple of months, they became friends at work, chatting fairly regularly. In August, Jacob mentioned that his two friends from the Savage Race would be in Ocean City and if she wanted to meet up, she would be welcome. Fighting nerves, Abbie decided to go and had a fantastic time with Jacob and his friends. The next weekend, they met up to play frisbee golf, found that conversation flowed, and decided to get a drink to keep things going. Over these and a few more interactions, Abbie was noting that they matched on many levels and her interest was growing. After some soul searching she acknowledged how she felt. A few days later, Jacob went out on a limb and confessed to Abbie that he had some pretty strong feelings and wanted to know where she was on that topic. It was a message she both hoped and prayed for but also dreaded because he was her coworker after all! She responded saying that she also was interested in exploring what was there. Soon after, Jacob scheduled the first date (though, Abbie didn't know it was an official date until later). They decided to go bowling but neither one thought to check for the league night schedule and couldn't bowl, so they went downtown to a sushi spot they had both been wanting to try. After some good sushi and Jacob trying to show off by eating wasabi and choking, they weren't ready for the night to end and walked to the Brick Room bar and continued their night by firelight over a couple drinks. The following week, Jacob wowed Abbie with a wine and movie night complete with a charcuterie board. She later found out that he had never made a charcuterie board nor did he have two wine glasses prior to that night. Following those early weeks, they regularly spent weekends together doing things as a couple or with family or friends. They also started their weeknight dinners where they would switch off every other week hosting each other and making dinner. The relationship progressed from there until they both agreed that they felt this might be something more and started working through a book of intentional conversation topics which got them talking about all sorts of things. Upon finishing that book, Jacob got to work and in March, talked to her father and then went and got busy picking out a ring. He popped the question in June 2025 and she was thrilled to say yes and start planning forever together. And to think it all started with a Savage Race!