Our story began nearly seven and a half years ago, when the stars aligned in the most unexpected way - during dormitory room selection. Despite growing up just 15 minutes apart from one another and attending rival, cross-town, high schools, it wasn’t until Molly moved in three doors down from Justin at Northern Illinois University that our paths finally crossed. We quickly became close friends through countless dining hall dinners, late-night gaming sessions, and weekly trips to Buffalo Wild Wings, before we had our first official date, on a Sunday morning, at the now-defunct DeKalb IHOP. From that day in late November 2017 onward, we were essentially inseparable. Our relationship has only grown stronger as we lived through a global pandemic, two years of long-distance (during said pandemic, no less), and the completion of four college degrees between the two of us. Just after celebrating our seven-year anniversary, Justin took Molly to the Chicago Botanic Garden to see the Christmas lights. After successfully hiding the world’s largest ring box in his coat pocket, Justin managed to find the perfect moment - just the two of us, beneath the twinkling lights and falling snow - to (finally) propose!