We met at a 4th of July BBQ in our childhood hometown, Tyngsboro MA. The host was Kristen's big brother's friend and Steven's best friend's cousin - the one, the only, Ryan Connell. Steve was wearing a USA Rugby shirt, which was a conversation starter for Kristen's father Harry, who introduced himself to Steve stating he had a daughter who played rugby at UNH. And she was here, at the party, did he want to meet her?

After many dates to Cambridge to visit our beloved Lamplighter Brewing, we found the perfect apartment just down the street that had heat and hot water included! After many years of dating long distance, it was a game changer. We almost got a full year of "normal" before things shut down in 2020.

Steve proposed to Kristen during their 5 year anniversary weekend on the Longfellow Bridge at sunrise; she should have known he was dressed way too nice at 5am for it not to be a proposal. When we had brunch at Citrus & Salt after, Kristen was mesmerized with her new, sparkly ring every time she looked down to take a bite out of her fried chicken and taco waffle. After brunch, we were off for a spa day on Newbury Street with a couples massage followed by pedicures, our yearly tradition when celebrating our anniversary. Steve surprised Kristen with a hotel suite for the weekend down by Boston Common since he knew the fireworks had moved the launch spot from the usual Charles River to the Common that year. It wouldn't be an anniversary weekend without Steve's annual fancy restaurant pick, he chose to take us out to Uni, a Japanese izakaya serving up award-winning sashimi and mind blowing drinks. We adventured around Boston for the rest of the weekend, swinging by the Pixar exhibit at the Museum of Science, crushing breweries and taking a boozy sunset sail boat cruise. We retreated back to our hotel, ordered our favorite pizza from the North End, Regina Pizzeria, and hooked up Mario Kart to our 72" tv screen for the most epic of showdowns. When the 4th of July fireworks began, we only had to step out onto our balcony to see the fireworks at eye level. Well done, Steven, well done.