We're getting married!

We met at a party of a mutual friend. Patrick walked up to me and gave me a hug, smiled and said "Hi Sweetheart". After that night, our friendship blossomed and Thursday nights became our "thing", where we would get together with mutual friends and go to dinners, movies, bowling, etc. I quickly began to love being around him and knew he had all of the qualities I wanted in a boyfriend. Any excuse I could take advantage of to see him, I would, even if that meant tagging along for rides with him and his friends. We would talk all day, texting and snapchatting (haha) when we weren't with one another. Finally, in November, after months of us being coy about our feelings for each other, Thursday nights with friends turned into dates alone together. On December 22, 2013, after a day of skating at Frog Pond, dinner, and decorating a gingerbread house, he made it official and asked me to be his girlfriend.

Patrick told me that on the day before his birthday (when I was least expecting it, since I love to go overboard for his birthday) that we were going to meet his parents for lunch at their condo in York, Maine. He explained that they were busy in the morning so we could walk the Marginal Way before hand, and meet up with some friends who were visiting. Knowing my usual outfit includes leggings and an oversized sweatshirt, he also told me we could take pictures- so I would actually get dressed up. That night before, we ended up going shopping where he bought me the entire outfit I picked out. On September 20, 2020 we walked the Marginal Way in Ogunquit, Maine with our yellow Labrador baby Bolt. Most of you know Ogunquit is one of my favorite places, spending the best parts of my summers going there as a child. We reached a rocky opening to ocean, where he brought me down to the beach so Bolt could play in the water. He asked me to turn around and face the ocean so he could take a picture, and when I turned back around he was down on one knee. Boltie had other plans in that moment and lunged for the 30 degree ocean but the sparkle of the ring gave me the strength to not get dragged with him! Patrick had the whole thing meticulously planned, hiring a photographer to capture it all, perched upon one of the cliffs to capture the moment followed by a photoshoot all along the Marginal Way. That day is easily the best day of my life.