Lizzy and Tommy first met in August of 2005 in their 8th grade social studies class at H.B. DuPont Middle School. Lizzy, the longtime Delawarean, and Tommy, who had recently moved from Ohio, were assigned to sit together—thank God for alphabetical order—and they quickly became friends. Lizzy had high academic aspirations and frequently sought out Tommy for homework help, and she soon joined the Science Olympiad team of which Tommy was the captain—quite the nerdy pair. Tommy had struggled with visual impairment all his life and was going through a period of adolescent angst about wearing glasses. He desperately needed glasses to see the chalkboard in class but sternly refused to wear them because he worried glasses would make him look uncool. Luckily, Tommy sat next to Lizzy in nearly every class of 8th grade and since he could not see the board, Lizzy would write everything down in her notebook and Tommy would dutifully copy her notes. Thus began the symbiotic friendship of Lizzy and Tommy, important both inside and outside the classroom.

When both went on to the notably rigorous STEM-focused Charter School of Wilmington for high school, their friendship continued to blossom. Again, thanks to the divine letter L which affixed both Lee and Laux, Lizzy and Tommy sat next to each other in homeroom for all four years of high school. Though they had somewhat different friend groups—and Tommy’s recollection is that Lizzy was far cooler—they talked daily in school alongside plentiful 2am frantic phone calls and AIM chats about homework assignments and the eventual life beyond Charter. When it came time for junior prom, Tommy—who by now had a years-long crush on Lizzy—spent months working up the courage to ask Lizzy to the dance. Unfortunately, Lizzy’s grades were not up to her parents’ high standards, and she responded that she was not allowed to attend prom at all. Whether this was the whole reality or a polite rebuff of Tommy’s romantic interest remains a mystery to this day. Tommy and Lizzy both had curious, intellectual minds but also sought out community and purpose, and so unsurprisingly both ended up at the intense-yet-thoughtful liberal arts schools of Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore for college. Fortunately, in another gift from God, these schools were both physically and programmatically neighbors, and their friendship continued through the Tri-College Institute for Social Justice—first as student members freshman year and later as their respective college head student leaders—as well as various social events and meals. After the junior prom incident, Tommy tried to let go of his romantic feelings for Lizzy as he believed them to be unrequited. During those college years, Lizzy instead was the one to develop romantic interest, although when she met with Tommy to ask him out she discovered he was already in a relationship and never let her feelings be known.

The pair remained friends, though geographically they grew apart when Lizzy stayed on the East Coast after college and Tommy moved to rural Jordan to work as a science teacher. When he returned to Pennsylvania for medical school, Lizzy decided it was finally time to make a move. She sent Tommy a Snapchat message asking if he would be interested in a meal to catch up, and fortunately the social media-unsavvy Tommy saw the message and responded excitedly. That first meal went well, and soon thereafter in 2018, more than a decade into their friendship, Lizzy and Tommy finally found the right place and the right time to become a couple. In the three years since they started dating, Lizzy and Tommy have experienced numerous adventures, from Lizzy moving to Philadelphia and getting a new job, to Tommy surviving medical school, to adopting Norway the dog as part of their family. They are thankful for all the support from family and friends over the years, and they are incredibly excited to continue their journey together as a couple.