We grew up less than three miles apart and had several mutual friends, but if you thought this was a high school sweetheart story, you'd be wrong. Our paths crossed intermittently throughout high school and college (mainly thanks to Bill D.), but not truly until we joined the same kickball team: The Kekambas. Over the first few years and several championships, we became friends. Michael had the most handsome dog, Hank, and Aly could not get enough of him (Hank, not Michael). In 2016 while we were both living at our parents houses, we shared a few late night Uber's home and got to know each other better. Over Memorial Day, we spent the entire weekend together, and in July we took a 4th of July trip to the Outer Banks with several of our friends. Shortly after that trip (on Aly's birthday!) we made it official. We both knew very quickly that this was love - spending as much time with each other (and Hank) as possible. When the Cubs were in the World Series, we were fortunate enough to go to game 4 (the start of the come back!) and took a photo in front of the Ernie Banks statue. Aly's mom was quick to proclaim that we would one day show that to our kids. We were mortified. Though just a few days later after celebrating the Cubs victory in the streets of Old Town, Michael told Aly he loved her. The feeling was mutual. In June of 2017, we moved into our first apartment together and just 5 months later bought our first home! We truly could not have been happier, and then February 2nd rolled around.

We had been planning to go to ramen at Wasabi (the restaurant where we had our first date) all week. Naturally, Aly tried to sabotage it in any way possible: inviting friends, changing the restaurant, canceling all together. Michael made up every excuse in the book not to. We went to Wasabi - and with temperatures in the single digits - ramen could not have been more perfect. On the way home, Michael tells Aly that we're going to go meet up with some friends. Being that it's Friday, Aly was not about it and tried her hardest to just stay home with Hank. Frustrated, Michael lays his foot down, says "we're going out!", and goes to take Hank out for a quick walk. Minutes later, he calls to let Aly know he forgot his keys. Aly opens the door to a beautifully decorated porch, a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and Hank in a tux! Quite the romantic, Michael has signs a la "Love Actually", and at the end, asks Aly to marry him. Before he can finish, Aly is screaming "OF COURSE!" And here we are :)