It was February of 2021 and we were both attending a virtual orientation for Northwestern's MBA program. The orientation put us all into breakout rooms, and as fate would have it we ended up in the same small group breakout room twice in a row. We made small talk with the other members of the room and bonded over the fact that we both attended IU but somehow had never met at school. After the second meeting, Jenn made the first move and DM'd Bobby on everyone's favorite dating app, Slack, saying "great to meet a fellow Hoosier"! Bobby responded enthusiastically but never got a response from that message. Humbled but not deterred, a few weeks later Bobby reached out to Jenn via Slack, asking a question he already knew the answer to but just had to keep the conversation going. She responded, and the conversation has continued for every day since.

For our first date, Bobby pretended he REALLY wanted to come up to Chicago to tour Northwestern. He conveniently picked a day that Jenn was in town, St Patrick's Day, but was afraid to get too excited about the date or tell anyone for fear of it not working out, so while staying with his brother and sister-in-law he told them he was "going to tour Northwestern and meet a friend for lunch". That lunch turned into a 7 hour first date and ended up being one of the first of many dates to Mexican restaurants, a personal favorite of both Bobby and Jenn. (Once his family met Jenn, Bobby was exposed for slightly misleading everyone about the intent of his Chicago St Patrick's Day trip... sorry Charlie and Allie!!)

December 2, 2023 was easily the best day of our lives so far! Bobby pulled off such a surprise that Jenn unknowingly almost derailed the plan a few times. Since they had been seriously dating, Jenn's parents and friends had been telling Bobby that the most important thing for a proposal was that Jenn's nails were done. So naturally, about three weeks before the big day, Jenn decided to take a break from getting her nails done for a while "because I want them to look good in the future for when you propose". Bobby acted very supportive of the plan but was internally panicking - he enlisted the help of Jenn's friend Sammy, and thankfully the morning of the proposal she did in fact get her nails done and all was well. Jenn also loves checking where her people are on Find My Friends, which is typically harmless but presented quite a problem for Bobby trying to surprise her with a proposal that involved her family. On our way to Navy Pier for "drinks with friends" before Bobby's "work holiday party", we got stuck at a light for what felt like an eternity, and every time Jenn got her phone out Bobby's heart skipped a beat because her parents were already in the city for the celebration. Bobby is always a chatty person, but that day he was especially chatty and every time Jenn picked up her phone he immediately asked a question to make sure she would stop looking at her phone. Eventually, they made it out of the car and walked towards Navy Pier. The weather was perfect, and Jenn was very much not expecting a proposal, so as Bobby grabbed Jenn's hands and started his speech, Jenn looked at him and very romantically said "what are you doing?" As he got on one knee and pulled out the ring, Jenn realized what was happening and let out a shocked "Oh my gosh!!!" She said yes, and then both of our families surprised Jenn at her favorite rooftop bar in Chicago. And now we can't wait to celebrate with all of you!!