Molly and Patrick met through the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) teaching fellows program, through which they both taught high school physics in Tampa, FL. The two first spoke over the phone in March of Molly's senior year at Texas A&M as Molly prepared to join Patrick in ACE Tampa for the following school year. They met in person that summer at Notre Dame while taking classes, and became fast friends along with the rest of their ACE community. That friendship deepened over the course of the school year, particularly as Molly and Patrick discovered that they would be teaching the same subject, doing so in classrooms across the hall from each other, and began driving together every day in the 30-minute commute to and from school. Those car rides became a sort of sacred space for them in the midst of the trials of teaching, as they filled the time with questions about each other, conversations about their hopes and fears, and listening to Taylor Swift's latest album at the time, Lover. Over time, they both realized the feelings they had for each other went beyond that of good friends, and those car rides also became the setting for honest conversations about the future of their relationship beyond ACE. Thus it was that after Patrick left Tampa in May of 2020 to pursue graduate school back at Notre Dame, they began dating long-distance (after spending lots of time together in lockdown for the spring semester). Things moved somewhat quickly from there - a year of growing more in love for each other despite the distance, including many late-night phone calls, Zoom dates, and a few trips to see each other. During one of those trips, over Easter weekend in 2021, Molly was offered a teaching job close to South Bend in LaPorte and immediately accepted, soon ending their stint of long-distance dating - a true Easter blessing! Their relationship continued to flourish as they spent more time together in South Bend and LaPorte alongside a new community of friends. In February of 2022, many of these friends were present to witness as Patrick proposed to Molly in front of the Sacred Heart of Jesus statue across from the Golden Dome at Notre Dame. In front of both Jesus and Mary, Molly gave her own "yes" to Patrick, and since then both of them have been continuously affirmed in this decision by the many blessings that they have received in their engagement - including a weekend spent with both of their families in Chicago, a camping trip with friends in New York, a weekend of watching space movies with friends in South Bend, and even a second-place award in Patrick's family's wine-tasting competition! More than anything, Molly and Patrick are excited to celebrate their love and commitment toward each other and toward God with their friends and families!