PJ and his sister Jenn drove down to Atlanta from Philly and met up with their friend Georgeanne for a 2-night Lotus run. The first night was at Terminal West. Stacey was super bummed when tickets soldout and ended up missing that show, but made sure she got a ticket for the next night at Buckhead Theatre. During set break, Stacey complimented Georgeanne's cute haircut and they started talking. A few minutes later, PJ and Jenn walked in from outside. Stacey immediately noticed PJ's beard and was really surprised when he walked right up to her and Georgeanne. When PJ saw Stacey with Georgeanne, he figured she'd run into an old friend but we had just met. We all hung out dancing for the rest of the show. truth be told: this is when Stacey and PJ had their first kiss. After the show, we continued the night at Smith's Olde Bar; and after last call, PJ came over to Stacey's house after taking the girls back to their hotel. PJ and Stacey played records and talked until the sun came up, then parted ways so PJ could drive back to Philly. Stacey wasn't sure if they would ever see each other again since he lived so far away.

After PJ got back to Philly, he called Stacey and they began talking on the phone; and, they would talk for like 4+ hours everyday. PJ said he was already planning on coming back to Atlanta for The Werks concert and asked if Stacey would go with him. Now this was pretty slick because asking Stacey was him making plans. Fast-forward to May, PJ flew to Atlanta for a visit and we went on our first official date to see The Werks at Terminal West (our favorite Atlanta venue). And as they say: the rest is history.

We were coming up on PJ's 40th Lotus show and he said he wanted to do something big for it. He made plans for us to travel to the show at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY and meet up with his sister Jenn, her husband Randy, and Stacey Rae, one of Stacey's best friends from college. (Fun fact: The Grateful Dead played 13 dates at the Capitol Theatre in a one-year span from 1970-1971.) PJ AirBNB'd an adorable bungalow house in a gorgeous neighborhood. Once we all arrived and got settled, we went out to dinner before the show at Rye House Port Chester and then walked to the venue. After the first set, we went outside and met up with some old friends who had also traveled into town for the show. As we all congregated and waited for the 2nd set to start, I started walking up towards the stage thinking everybody was following me. Then suddenly PJ gently pulled my arm back and turned me around, as all our friends were standing there, and began talking to the group about how we'd met at Lotus during set break. I got really confused: why was he talking this way? Then he got down on one knee, pulled out the ring and asked "will you marry me?" I was completely surprised. I immediately said "YES!" and bent down to hug and kiss him before he could even put the ring on my finger. Our friends and the crowd around us cheered and burst into applause. The rest of the show was a bit of a blur, but Stacey couldn't have had a bigger smile on her face. Funny side story #1: when PJ went through the metal detector, security made him open the ring box. Stacey was completely oblivious. His cover was not blown. Funny side story #2: we weren't the only couple who got engaged that night. Lotus is for lovers!