WE'RE SO HAPPY YOU'RE HERE

WHERE IT ALL STARTED: Throwback to the summer of 2012 (aka the summer before our freshman year of high school) at the South Park Wave pool where Sam and I met for the first time. A couple months later at our Winter Formal, I asked him to dance and then later that night at our friend's after party, Sam asked for my number. TOUR ONE: We went on our first date to Handles during the summer of junior year but did not start dating until 2016 when we were seniors. We went to TJ and Central's proms together and attended each other's high school graduations. Sam's Junior hockey career started in New Jersey after high school and took off shortly after when he moved to Canada. While Sam was living the hockey dream, I was at chasing my own dreams of playing Division 1 volleyball while studying my butt off to be an engineer at Youngstown State. Living countries apart and having a lot of growing up to do, we took a break from dating. If you ask Sam, I dumped him at Dunkin before Christmas but that's besides the point. We never stopped hoping and praying things would work out with us in the end - and all of our teammates would certainly agree. TOUR TWO: Every time our breaks from sports aligned, we would always end up meeting at Eat 'n Park so we could catch up on everything we missed in each other's lives. Lots of random phone calls here and there, but the timing still wasn't right. Finally in 2018 we bumped into each other at a family friends Christmas party. Shoutout to Remy for letting me wear her super cute pant suit "Just in case Sam was there" and my mom pouring me a glass of wine before encouraging me to go say hi. Just a few weeks after that, we decided on dating forreal this time before I went back to college to finish my junior year. We did long distance while I finished at YSU and Sam started his apprenticeship as an electrician in Pittsburgh. We had lots of fun weekends together at YSU and Sam enjoyed the perks of being a college student. COVID brought all of the college fun to an abrupt end and we got to spend time at home together until I accepted my first job as a chemical engineer in Chicago. Lots of weekend visits back and forth and learning to appreciate the time we got to spend together. I moved back to Pittsburgh at the beginning of 2022 and was secretly hoping Sam was saving up all of that extra money from scrap and side work. I SAID YES: On May 26th, 2022, at one of my favorite places in the world (Amelia Island, FL), Sam asked me to marry him. It was truly the happiest day of my life and I will never forget how special it was. I know that God has been working on our relationship for a while - well since 2012 at least - and His timing is nothing short from perfect. We are so blessed to share the love that we have for each other. I can't imagine doing this life without Sam. Forever just makes sense.