Just two days after Patrick got home from working on a ship in November 2019 he sent Chelsea a message on a dating website. After exchanging messages for a couple weeks they met for their first date at a local restaurant for margaritas. On their second date Patrick cooked dinner for Chelsea, and made his self proclaimed famous chicken, broccoli and ziti. She knew she found someone special who could cook such a delicious meal. Little did she know that Patrick's culinary skills were limited to various chicken and broccoli dishes. They both knew they wanted to be in a relationship with each other, and Chelsea told Patrick one night to just ask her out already. He laughed and told her that is not how that is supposed to work. On January 12, 2020 they made their relationship official when they were watching an episode of The Office. Chelsea had never really watched The Office before she met Patrick and he was trying to get her into it. It just so happened the night she told Patrick to "just ask her out already" was the episode Jim proposed to Pam. She really got into the show and was always asking when Jim was going to propose because she knew he had seen the show before. When the scene of Jim proposing was over Patrick turned to Chelsea and asked her out officially. Two weeks after COVID hit the world in March 2020 Patrick had major back surgery, Chelsea had just started teaching remotely and began grad school online. The surgery was a blessing in disguise because if Patrick had not gotten surgery he would have had to go back to sea for many months at the very beginning of their relationship. Instead, Chelsea and Patrick got the opportunity to build a solid foundation to grow and strengthen their love for one another.

Patrick started shipping out again in February 2021. If you ask Chelsea, she'd tell you that his first trip was 5 months, 10 days long. Not that she was counting or anything. Patrick knew if Chelsea could make it through 2 trips of him shipping out that she was THE ONE. He planned ahead by going ring shopping before he left for the second trip in November 2021. A little over half way through the trip from the middle of the ocean he called the jeweler to place the order for the ring he had picked out. Chelsea hates being surprised and Patrick really had to think about how he was going to propose so he could make it a surprise. He was due to come home from his second trip on Saturday, March 12, but told her the office messed up travel dates and was going to be coming home the following day. Patrick's plan: the ring was picked up on Friday, he had his flight home for Saturday, and he made a fake travel itinerary to make Chelsea think that he was coming home Sunday. Success. Like most couples Patrick and Chelsea can see each others locations for safety purposes. Before Patrick left the ship for the airport he turned the location off on his phone so she couldn't see him coming home. Which turned out to be a good idea because she asked him right before he was about to board the plane if he turned his location off. He told her no and maybe because he was down deep in the ship out of cell service and maybe it hadn't reactivated yet. He told her he had to go help a coworker and would text her later. After landing in Providence he asked if the location was working yet. Knowing the answer was no and lucky that she didn't call or FaceTime him, Patrick was on his way home to pick up the ring from his parents house. Patrick had planned on driving to Chelsea's parents house to ask her parents for their blessing, but due to a 2+ hour flight delay and a bad snow squall, Patrick had to FaceTime her parents and obviously they said yes or else we wouldn't be here writing this today. While walking across the driveway to their apartment Patrick turned his location back on and texted Chelsea to see if it was working. At this point Patrick can see that Chelsea is inside watching Netflix but not responding so he texted her again. A moment later she asked, "Wait, are you in Webster?!" and then immediately Facetimed him. He answered, covered in snow, holding a bouquet of flowers. She didn't even hang up and ran to the door. When she opened the door in her cleaning outfit of sweatpants and a sweatshirt, Patrick was standing there with the bouquet in one hand and the open ring box in the other. She was in complete shock that Patrick was standing there and didn't even see the ring for about 5 seconds. When she saw it her jaw dropped, she became speechless and turned around to go back inside. Patrick followed her in and got down on a knee and asked her to marry him. She didn't even say yes right away, took the ring out of the box and put it on herself. And then said yes. The only thing she said for the next few days was "Holy shit, we're engaged!"