After 4 years of people telling us that we should date, and some time spent apart at college, who would've thought a baseball game at Mercy College would start what would be the rest of our lives together. After multiple attempts of trying to win her over, I found out the true key to her heart was an LIU Post t-shirt. This led to multiple late night drives home from LIU and the last Moe's stack I ever had on our first date. Long distance brought us together then proceeded to keep us apart, but we never let it stop us. In college we traveled between Long Island and New Jersey countless times and in the summer I went wherever baseball took Josh. I even made the drive from Canada to Long Island after his team won the conference championship (Go Sharks!). Post Grad, just when we thought long distance would be over, Josh got drafted to the MLB at the end of our worst vacation ever (no time for relaxation when the draft is going on). This began our next round of long distance... and this time we were even farther apart. Although the space can feel heavy during the season, it is always an adventure. Long distance has given us a good foundation for always making time for each other when we can, while also providing us with adventures we will never forget.

After my initial plans were foiled by being shipped out to the Dominican Republic that overlapped with our planned trip to Maine (where I originally planned to propose). I somehow managed to pick the coldest and windiest night of the year in December to pop the question. On the sub 20 degree and windy night I insisted to Kayla that we needed to go to this park overlooking New York City before dinner, because who doesn't love an evening park trip in the middle of the winter? She was all on board somehow until we stepped outside the car and we both realized how cold it really was. I was stuck juggling in my mind how to continue to get her to buy into the plan without giving it up (he kept telling me the cold was good for you). At least the view was good enough to distract her mind a little bit while I executed the rest of my plan. I think she would say it was all worth it in the end, as she got her steak dinner with a shiny new ring on her hand. (I wouldn't change the moment for anything, even if i accidentally ordered wine that was $35 per glass)