It all began on March 4th, 2023, the first nice Saturday Charlotte had seen in a while. Coincidentally, QC Pour House was the place Michael and Lexi separately picked that day with friends. Michael met up with his friends; Pano and Joe to watch basketball and hockey. They found themselves seated at the front of the bar, a perfect spot to watch games and enjoy that Saturday in all its glory. Separately, Lexi was meeting up with her friends Cory, Lindsey and Colleen to quote “have a day”. It is still unclear as to how long Michael and Lexi were in the same bar that day before they met, but as time passed and drinks flowed, Lexi's friends decided it was time for shots. Michael was seated where they ordered whiskey shots from the bartender and counted out loud how many shots they needed to order. Unassumingly, this cute blonde girl tapped Michael on the shoulder and asked him if he wanted a shot. Of course, anytime a beautiful woman offers to buy an unsuspecting guy a shot they answer with an immediate “yes!” But…that’s not what Michael said. Instead, he turned around to Lexi’s pretty smile and said, “I don’t take shots of whiskey, sorry” Lexi said, “I don’t either what should we have?” and Michael offered with the classic “green tea shot.” It was at that moment they both smiled, and Michael offered Lexi a seat next to him. She sat down and immediately started talking about Chicago and Naperville. Now, why Chicago you ask, we couldn’t forget a key detail in the story. Michael’s favorite bar when he went to college in Chicago was Kingston Mines. A legendary 5 am blues bar in Lincoln Park. It just so happened Michael had a closet full of Kingston Mines’ T-shirts and was wearing one that said “Chicago's Blues Bar” on the back that day. You don’t see that too often in Charlotte and it obviously peaked Lexi’s interest. As they started talking, details of that initial conversation are a little blurred, but Michael and Lexi can both agree on one thing that was discussed; Lexi’s glory days at Naperville North High School (Go Dogs) and reminded Michael more than once it wasn’t Naperville Central. As the night passed, Lexi and her friends decided it was time to go, but neither Michael nor Lexi wanted the conversation to end. They exchanged numbers, and Lexi hired the help of her friend Collen to save his number. She typed in the infamous, “Mike QC Pour House” as the name and Lexi left. (rest assured it now says “Michael QC” today). As fate would have it, she actually came back into the bar, after almost getting into the Uber with her friend to leave because Cory decided to stay. During this same time Michael, Joe and Pano got up from the bar and moved around. Would you know, Lexi and Michael bumped into each other again. They chatted all night long like old friends. After a week had passed with minimal texts between them, Michael finally asked Lexi out on a date to Trolley Barn for dinner. From the minute they saw each other again the conversation was flowing. Something was different this time, it was easy for them both. As time continued, they went on a few more dates, had a few more laughs, and never wanted their dates to end. We obviously can go on and on about their history and what brought us here, but there are two final important parts that must be said… Michael knew that Lexi was someone special and wanted her to be the first woman he introduced to his daughter, Joelle. It was Easter weekend, and Lexi was heading to the beach. Lexi and Michael met before she left at a local coffee shop. Lexi gave Michael a coloring book “from the Easter Bunny” to give to Joelle. It was at that moment that Michael had not only known he was in love, but knew he was going to marry Lexi. Weeks after, Joelle approved of Lexi at a bowling date. In their first meeting, Joelle asked Lexi if she was a real princess. After this bowling date, Lexi had already fallen in love with Michael, but now with his little princess, Joelle too!