As Joey and I are both in healthcare, we felt it was our responsibility to ensure the safety and wellness of our guests, and as such, made the difficult decision to postpone our wedding celebration to a time where we can all meet without the fear of propagating the spread of the virus. With that said, Joey and I still wanted to tie the knot, albeit a bit quicker than previously planned... and no, there was no shotgun involved! We chose the date, June 15th, which is directly between Joey's birthday on the 1st and mine on the 30th. It was an intimate ceremony with only immediate family present, so as to satisfy the CDC's recommendations for fewer than 10 people per gathering. As disappointed as we are that we didn’t get to celebrate this momentous occasion with our favorite family and friends, we hope that you all understand our reasoning during this strange and unprecedented time. We would also like to emphasize that the PARTY IS NOT OFF, we are simply rescheduling to a later date after a vaccine has become available. Thank you for all your love and support, and we promise to keep you updated as soon as we know more. Love, The Salomones

In June of 2016, I was getting ready to begin my last semester of nursing school. At this point I was already hired in the ICU at Research, but it was too late to join their capstone cohort, so I was to join the lottery with the rest of my class who had yet to find jobs. Ideally, I would be placed in another hospital's ICU so I could begin to develop the essential critical care skills needed for my new role. However, as fate would have it, I was sixth to last in the lottery and the only position left open that was of any remote interest to me was the Grossman Burn Unit at RMC. I groaned as I thought of the horror stories I'd heard of the overheated surgery suites and torturous debridement rooms that I was sure to encounter, but I gritted my teeth and thought at least I'd have a different experience to add to my resume... the mantra "you can do ANYTHING for X amount of time" repeating in my head. The first day arrived, and I was excited, but nervous about what I would be learning over the next 8 weeks. I arrived with plenty of time to acquaint myself with the unit, meet my preceptor, and get settled before the shift started. The lights were dimmed from nightshift, and the overall presence of the unit was hushed as if there were some universal rule that the poor, suffering burn patients needed solemn silence in which to heal. We had just finished report when I hear someone whistling down the hallway. The far doors burst open with a bang and this dark headed, glasses wearing, big-nosed loud mouth walks in and announces that he was late cuz he had to get his "Starbs" (Starbuck's) fix for the morning ... but here he was, and the silence was broken. The rest of the day was spent in gaiety and laughter as Joey spoke a million miles a minute about politics, religion, and stories of his past. I was shocked that someone could be so opinionated about life, but also seem to be everyone's best friend. He was brilliant and unconventional, and from that day on I was hooked.

Joey and Molly grew up no more than 30 miles apart, Joey in the northern part of Kansas City and Molly, just across State Line road in Kansas. Neither of them knew of the others existence, until coincidence, perhaps even fate, brought them together years later. Molly attended high school while Joey was living the college life. After college, Joey made movies and taught 10th grade English while Molly attended college at KU. Both had aspirations of perhaps attending medical school one day. Aspirations that would one day lead them both towards working in healthcare, and eventually meeting each other. After college, Molly traveled and worked a variety of jobs, from restaurants to animal hospitals, she even attended EMT school. Joey, coincidently, also attended EMT and then Paramedic school. After Molly moved back to Kansas City, she attended Research College of Nursing Accelerated BSN program. It was during her final set of clinicals, on the burn unit at Research Medical Center, she met Joey. A friendship eventually blossomed into a relationship. They both were hard workers. Both loved intellectual challenges and loved to discuss everything, from politics to religion to medical diagnoses. They even enjoyed a lot of the same music and both of their fathers, Mike and Joe, were big Grateful Dead fans. Joey fell in love with Molly’s laugh and Molly fell in love with the fact that Joey could make her laugh. And laugh they did. They moved in together, first in an apartment and then eventually a house. They have a furbaby named Mary Jane and they have made a beautiful home together. Joey recently graduated from nursing school and he did so with the seemingly endless amount of love and support he receives from Molly. Molly is currently in CRNA school and Joey tries to do extra around the house, including cooking and cleaning, to help support her. They are best friends. They are lovers. And they couldn’t be happier together.