It was May 19, 2017 and I walked into Clery’s Irish bar in Boston, unknowing that this would be a night that changed my life. I was with a group of friends and - being the extremely generous man that I am - offered to buy the first round. As I walked over, I noticed an opening at the end of the bar and standing right there was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen. I quickly ordered my drinks and as I waited, got the courage to strike up a conversation with this beautiful young lady. It's worth noting that there’s been some debate around how the initial conversation went. Carly likes to say that I started babbling about nothing, and my friends who were watching close by enjoy reminding me that this girl wanted “nothing to do with me.” While some might say that I was getting “rejected,” I like to tell myself that this was the best conversation of my life. Luckily the bartender took his time getting our drinks, giving me the opportunity to generate a spark and ultimately persuade Carly to give me her phone number. The next week we went on our first date at another restaurant in Boston’s Back Bay, and the rest is history. Multiple dates followed and as the older generation might say - we were going steady. As I write this today, we’ve been together for six years and we’ve been through so many great life events together; I bought a condo and we moved in together in Boston, Carly went back to nursing school to pursue her passion, and she supported me by moving across the country to Sacramento, encouraging me to pursue my dream job. In a lot of ways it feels like we’ve already been through so much together, and I can’t wait to see what else the future has in store for us.