Ben and Jamie met one steamy July evening in the summer of 2023. Unbeknownst to either, they both knew who each other were. Ben, while discussing with an old friend an exciting upcoming date with a pretty redhead dental student from Chicago, was informed that he had actually gone to summer camp with her about 9 years previously. Jamie, being smarter than Ben, simply remembered Ben from that summer camp. Their first date became a second, and then a third, and on and on until they saw each other almost every night. Then, fatefully, Jamie took a chance and out of the blue invited Ben to visit her family in Chicago over the winter vacation. Ben was hesitant at first--anxiety and nerves can sometimes get the better of him--but after a day or two of contemplation, he decided that in this situation, bravery was the necessary course of action. Ben arrived in Riverwoods, IL after a riveting 8.5 hour drive through the most interesting territory in the Union--the plains of Northern Ohio and Indiana--to the delights of the Gorden household, complemented with that classic North Shore healthfood delicacy, salad pizza. After only mild interrogation by Julie and Bill, he retired for the evening with the firm conviction that he had made the correct choice. And after a few days of touring sites and meeting the rest of Jamie's family, it’s safe to say that he began falling in love. And, like any good man does when he begins falling in love with a pretty young lady, he demanded that she strap two wooden boards to her feet and join him for a day of hurtling down a snowy mountain. Jamie, being the brave soul with an outstanding habit at being good at just about everything, excelled. Perhaps she was also falling in love, or perhaps she just has a hard time saying no. In any case, the two continued spending more and more time together, taking trips to Japan and Singapore, Louisville and Chicago, until one beautiful May day when Ben called Jamie up and told her he desperately needed help cleaning his room. Jamie, being smarter than Ben, knew that Ben would never ask for assistance with such a task, so she said she’d need about an hour, during which time she did her hair and makeup. When she arrived at Ben's front door, a trail of rose petals greeted her and guided her up the stairs, where Ben smiled, got down on one knee, and somehow bamboozled her into agreeing to spend the rest of her life with him. And the rest, ladies and gentlemen, is history.