Back in 2012, Josh and I met because he was “dating” my friend at the time (I put dating in quotations because it was a two-month long middle school relationship). In our little friend group we used to hang out at each other’s houses, play boardwalk games at Jenkinson’s, and run around Pier Village like we owned the place. We had a lot of fun as friends, but lost touch when his two-month middle school romance came to an end. We remained connected on social media here & there. Fast forward to December 2014 - I had left my public school system for private school in 2013 and had not spoken to nor seen Josh in over a year. Over Christmas break, my dad and I went to the gym where he treated me to my favorite protein shake of all time (it is called the cookie jar shake at Jersey Strong for the NJ peeps who might be interested lol). As 15-year-olds do, I posted a picture of the shake on my Snapchat story saying something about how the shake was the best shake ever. Josh saw my story and responded with the six words that started it all… “what gym do you go to?” Our conversation about the shake and the gym turned into conversations about anything & everything for weeks. It was as if we were getting to know each other for the first time all over again because people change quite a bit from middle school to high school. In January 2015, when it became apparent that Josh “kinda” liked me and I was “kinda” interested in him, we decided to make plans to hang out. This proved to be a challenge, however, because Papa Manny’s rulebook said I couldn’t date until I was 16 (I was 15 at the time) and Mama Crespo had recently imposed an embargo on all boys from my hometown. I managed to convince my mom to allow him to come to our house to hang for a little bit because she knew him already from a few years ago (thanks Mom!). After our first “hangout” (I call it a hangout because it definitely wasn’t a date lol) we continued to see each other for a few months. On April 11, 2015 Josh asked me to be his girlfriend after a day in New York City and I said yes. Since then, we have had the absolute best time growing up together. We were each other’s date at every high school dance, experienced getting our driver’s licenses together, and were there in the audience for each other when we graduated high school and college. He was there to move me into EVERY dorm room, drove 1.5 hours both ways every weekend to see me at Lafayette, and basically became an expert in Economics after helping me study for so many exams. I was by Josh’s side throughout his entire time at Brookdale, wrote his admissions essay for NJIT (he’s an engineer, not a writer), and was in the auditorium crying watching him graduate in 2022. On December 11, 2020 Josh proposed in front of the New York City skyline a week after moving into our very first apartment together. This moment marked our “adult” life together and was so special given that nearly 6 years prior, our story had just begun. We hope that you join us in the next step of our journey on April 12, 2024!