Our origin story goes back to high school - we went to different high schools but had mutual best friends. One weekend evening, we were meeting up in the iconic Riverside Beef a Roo parking lot to figure out where the night would take us. MJ was with his best friend Juddy and Kelly was with her best friend Lindsay. This was the first time we had met. We all headed to Lindsay’s house to hang out with a group of friends and that’s where the spark ignited. Kelly was sitting on Lindsay’s living room floor, playing with her shih tzu Lucy, and MJ took the opportunity to “flirt”. MJ playfully argued that the dog Lucy liked him more (not possible), but from that banter, we found a strong attraction to one another that developed into a high school relationship for a couple of years. Life pulled us in separate directions (and locations) the years after high school, but we stayed good friends - still visiting each other at our respective colleges and attending concerts together. Years passed and after 2020, Kelly had the opportunity to move back to Rockford (her employer went remote). We had the chance to reconnect and reaffirm our love for one another that had evolved so greatly over the past 2 decades. We’re now so blessed to be a family of four with 2 incredible daughters (plus 2 dogs) and can’t wait to be surrounded by family and friends to honor our union!