Andrea and Shawn met in 3rd grade at St. Andrew's when Shawn transferred in to Ms. Gentile's class. They remained classmates until their 8th grade graduation. From there, they went to separate high schools and did not stay in touch.

Andrea and Shawn had been "friends" on social media for a number of years, and would casually communicate "Happy Birthdays". One time, their professions collided and Andrea contacted Shawn for an EMS connection for a Zoo issue. Still, contact was few and far between, and we were both dating other people at that time. Fast forward to April of 2020, when the world was in pandemic isolation. Andrea posted an Instagram story of her with the cat she was housesitting, and called it "Date Night." Shawn replied to the story with a photo of him and Thor, and said "me too." Somehow that casual message turned into months of social media messaging, and 3 months later, Andrea put Shawn on the spot and asked him when he was going to ask her out on a date. It took another month before meeting up for our first date... but it was worth the wait!

Shawn had been teasing Andrea about a proposal for over a year. He spent months sending her pictures of rings, to get an idea of what she would like. When they found out Andrea was pregnant, she told Shawn that if the baby came before the ring, he would be in big trouble! Shawn hid the ring in the kitchen for over 7 months, and waited until just days before Declan was born to propose (also in the kitchen)! In fact, they hadn't even had time to tell most people they were engaged, because only 3 days later, Andrea was in labor. All of their friends and family were hit with a double dose of good news that week!