A love story years in the making!

We met in the fourth grade at Shipley's Choice Elementary school, when Joey and his family moved to Maryland from Pennsylvania. After several years of going to school together, we began dating in eighth grade. That's where our love story begins! But like most middle school relationships, that didn't last long... We got back together junior year of high school and spent much of our time together - we were best friends. Two homecomings, two cadet balls, one prom, and many many more memories. We were "on and off" through the beginning of Joey's Marine Corps career, and during Allie's time at the University of Delaware. We may have not been dating but we were never out of touch for very long; on holidays and birthdays we would reach out to each other to check-in. In 2021, Joey's grandmother, 'Granny', passed away and while on the way from Camp Lejeune to New York for her funeral, Joey stopped in Bethany Beach to catch up with Allie. As soon as we saw each other, we knew that this was it! Once we got over our nerves and spent a few days around Bethany Beach and Ocean City, we decided to start dating again - again! We like to think that it was Granny who made it all happen. Shortly after, Joey deployed to the Baltic Sea for seven months. Allie stayed in Bethany Beach to work and spend time with family. In October 2022, Joey returned from deployment and we spent the next five months dating long distance and seeing each other whenever we could. In March 2023, we moved to Sneads Ferry, North Carolina! Since then, we've spent our time visiting family, making friends, cooking, and "adulting", but mostly going to the beach and eating oysters. While visiting Bethany Beach in July of 2024, Allie's college roommates and Joey had something planned! We went to see the sunrise on the beach and Allie was thinking we were just there to take some pictures. She never expected it when she turned around and Joey was down on one knee! It was the best morning ever! Here's to many more sunrises and sunsets together!