Walking to my first kickball game on a cold October night, I called my mom. Freezing and grumpy, I asked her if I should just turn around and go home. Seeing as she’s usually the laid back parent, I was surprised when she instructed me to honor my commitment. With that advice, I marched onto that Lincoln Park field, and introduced myself to the most handsome man on the team, Alex Amorello. When Alex sat down next to me during the post-game drinks at Woody’s, he told me he moved to Chicago during the middle of the Covid Lockdown. With nothing else to do, he had spent many lonely weekends visiting museums by himself. The next day, I woke up to a text asking, “What museum am I taking you to on Saturday?” I had been waiting for that text my entire life. Since then, we’ve frequented every museum in Chicago. To this day, it’s still one of our favorite activities, followed closely by jumping in the lake, eating at old-school restaurants, playing beach volleyball, and walking through the zoo. To prevent exhausting our local spots, we‘ve taken many trips together. Some locations have included Savannah, Charleston, NYC, Naples, the Bahamas, San Francisco, and of course, our home-towns of Concord (MA) and Birmingham (MI). When I first met Alex, I thought he was just a Boston guy, who was a complete stranger to the Midwest. I soon learned his mother, Susan, grew up down the street from my dad in Southfield, and went to the same summer camp as my mom. After they were married, Susan and Chris moved to Birmingham long enough to have their daughter, Blair, in the same hospital I was born in. I like to live under the belief that there are no random acts… so here we are! On October 17th, 2024, we were walking to dinner at my favorite restaurant. Stopping for a quick detour on a path along Lake Michigan, we looked out at the city view. Alex kissed me and said, “I love this city, I love living here with you, and I love you so much.” I don’t know what he said after that, because he got down on one knee and I blacked out. I do know that I collapsed to my knees twice, and Alex had to help me back up. In the midst of that, he asked me to marry him and I said yes. I am the luckiest girl to have found someone as special as Alex Amorello, and I am so ready to start the rest of our lives together.