For as long as he can remember, Matt has been traveling to his good friend TJ Jones' lakehouse in Maine each fall for the big Fryberg Fair. (For those of you who don't know, TJ Jones is now married to Miranda's sister, Rhianna.) OK, so the year is 2018; Matt has gotten to know Rhianna through TJ for a few years at this point now... but somehow never met her mysterious 'middle sister,' Miranda. Miranda, who let's just say would not typically find herself traveling to Maine, joined the rest of her family to this year's lakehouse trip to meet her sister's future in-laws. When Matt first laid eyes on Miranda.. he was speechless... no literally... he did not talk to her the entire weekend...SO MUCH SO that Miranda's other sister, Sierra, noted 'was it just me or was that Matt kid staring at you all weekend?!'... After a long weekend of not talking, Matt and Miranda both left the trip thinking of the other... Miranda figured sadly it may be quite some time until she runs into Matt again... but little did she know he would return once again literally the next weekend... and this time he never left... NO SERIOUSLY. The next weekend Matt came to the Flanagan family 'Bi-annual Oktoberfest Party' with the goal of seeing Miranda in mind... and he ended up staying the entire weekend.. even forming a serious bromance with Miranda's dad, PJ. Long story short, Miranda and Matt exchanged numbers at the party, and the rest is history.
The two quickly became inseparable. For the first year of their relationship, Miranda was living in Southie and finishing up her doctoral degree while Matt was living in Brighton and finishing up school himself. In the year after, Miranda and Matt both graduated and went on to start their professional careers... to support their love for going out to eat at Mexican restaurants and discovering new tiki bars.... The two then moved back to their respective hometowns, Miranda to Weymouth and Matt to Holliston. Although both wanted to wait to move in together until they were engaged, they conveniently used quarantine and Matt's abrupt start of 'working from home' as an excuse for Matt to be 'stuck' in Weymouth for a few months... Matt eventually returned home, but purposely found a new job in Weymouth and commuted all the way there from Holliston every day... of course making excuses to see Miranda whenever he possibly could.
In their third year of dating, Matt began planning to pop the question, however he claims 'he knew she was the one he wanted to marry the second he laid eyes on her when she roudned the corner at the Jones family lakehouse.' Matt wanted to plan something special and knew Castle Island was the perfect spot, as back in the 'Southie Days' they spent many Friday nights and Sunday afternoons there, going on (wine) walks and having (wine) picnics. It was their perfect 'first dates' spot, as there was always hardcore people watching... they loved commenting on all the other couples on dates wondering "maybe this is their first date... they seem so awkward!!!'...Little did they know someday others would be 'people watching' on them as while Matt proposed in that very same spot! Shoutout to Rosie who, dressed in a full on ninja suit, followed Matt and Miranda around the entire Castle Island in order to capture the big moment!