Welcome to Our Love Story

It began with a passing glance. Perhaps happenstance, and the nudge of mutual friends for Patrick and Lauren to have stumbled into each other's lives. In the fall of 2018, like any good coming-of-age story, they first came to know each other in high school. Patrick, who found himself as a baseball player and starting as goalkeeper for the varsity soccer team, caught the eye of Lauren, an enchanting and confident cheerleader and lifelong dancer who, having never even spoken a word to him, told those who knew her best with sincere assurance that, “he’s going to be my boyfriend.” While on the soccer field, Patrick grew close with his fullback, Anthony, who, as fate would have it, grew up within a stone's throw of Lauren and had been like a brother to her in their youth. He worked his angles with diligence, affection, and perhaps a healthy level of reckless abandonment, and blindly arranged for them to be properly introduced at a house party. Although it would take time, a few chances, and an easing of nerves, they were official by winter. They had spent time dancing around the question of “going steady,” but once it had happened, and all the stars aligned to make it a reality, they had their first official date. It was Patrick's seventeenth birthday and he, freshly equipped with a license and keys to his parents' car, took Lauren out on the first of what would come to be a lifetime of dinner, drinks, and romantic nights out. Lauren, who often sought the invaluable and vital opinions of her grandmother, declared that she could feel like marriage and life everlasting together was the only reasonable outcome of their budding romance. Patrick, in moments of his own quiet contemplation, felt this too. As the months and eventual years of high school rolled on, and Lauren reached the time to make decisions about college and beyond, he understood that he could not, and would not ever, influence her path, but was sober and clear-eyed in knowing that the only thing in the way of spending the rest of their lives together was the possibility of a physical separation. Ultimately, allowing the pieces to naturally fall into place, Lauren and Patrick both stayed local, living at home and saving money with the unconscious understanding that they, together but independently, chose a life together rather than a life apart. For the next several years, they grew together, sprouting new views on life and expectations of what love and companionship could be. They learned to love every version of one another as they evolved as individuals. Through all of the changes in life, the constant was one another. Six years had passed, and knowing that whole time the moment was brewing, he made the conscious decision, likely on the slopes of a mountain or on the shores of the great Atlantic Ocean, that when the time came to ask for her hand in marriage, it needed to be quick, efficient, and approved by one very important figure in Lauren’s life first. He needed to ask Grammy. Patrick chose, ultimately, with the support and strategy of a covert team of friends and family, to pop the question during her annual family vacation to Lake Harmony. Lauren, thinking it was a real hike and, as she had assured herself this surely wouldn’t be the moment based on her reconnaissance, wanted to be comfy in proper hiking attire for a hot summer day. Fortunately, her soon-to-be maid of honor, Keri, scolded her into a face of makeup and a photo-worthy outfit. Finally, Patrick, after many anxious moments, got them into position and popped the question. It was a beautiful day, the lake was full of life, and Patrick’s family appeared in surprise once it was all said and done. She said yes, like she had known all those years before, and the story of their life was now and forever, their own to write. Written by Alex Pavljuk