Megan's Version: Our love story is a true testament to the saying, “perseverance is key”, and “the best love is unexpected”. Patrick and I met way back in middle school. I remembered him as the loud, couldn’t sit still, and couldn’t stay away from trouble - type of kid. If you ask him, I’m sure he’ll tell you he tried over and over again to ask me on a date, but if you ask me, I didn’t notice – sorry Patrick. The one time I decided to give him a chance, we snuck out to hangout (like every other HS kid was doing in Lawrence) and ended up being brought home by the cops. Ernie thought he would never see this boy ever again, even tried to demand it – but quite the opposite happened. Pat was always there in the background because we had mutual friends. Once we were in college we started becoming better friends because we would travel to see my best friend Katie a lot of the weekends up at Rutgers. Those fun college visits turned into summer hangouts in town. After graduation we had more free time at home to all hangout together. Once the pandemic hit, it was almost as if we all quarantined together. Patrick became one of my best friends. Then it became pretty easy falling in love with him, even if I didn’t know it in the beginning. When I came to terms that this was a man I wanted to spend majority of my time with, laughing and being goofy together, I was the one begging him to take me on a date. Once he finally did, the rest was history. So, if you had asked me 10 years ago if I thought I would end up marrying Patrick, I would probably say no, but standing here now i'm so glad I said yes. I feel extremely lucky to know that my soulmate was disguised as my best friend this whole time. Patrick's Version: Timing is definitely a key factor for our relationship. We tried this relationship for the first time my Sophomore year of Highschool. Being best friends with her next door neighbor allowed me to get closer to her and become friends. Megan, being the pretty girl she was in highschool, definitely led to some competition but after patiently waiting, it was my turn to try and get the ball rolling. This ended up being very short lived due to a Lawrenceville curfew and some cops that didn’t seem to care about my journey of finding a soulmate… Years went by, we both went to college and would periodically see each other through our mutual friend (shoutout Kromes). I always felt like we had some type of connection through our senses of humor and ability to make a good time out of anything we were doing. Fast forward a couple of years and Megan moves home from college. Covid hits and a few months in we start hanging out again through our mutual friend. I took the opportunity and ran with it. I made sure not to text her goodnight so the conversation would continue in the morning and just got to know Megan more and more each day. Every feeling I had for her grew more and more everyday. I eventually worked up the courage to ask her on a date and the rest has been a journey I am tremendously grateful for. Megan is everything I could have ever asked for in a partner. She’s the first person I've met that can out stubborn me and while it’s been a humbling experience, I know she wants what’s best for me. She continues to push me to be a better person everyday. I love you Megan and can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together.