This story has two parts, the first time Ruthanne saw Tricia and then the first time words were actually exchanged. It was Tricia’s first day as a Kennel Assistant and as per tradition, Tricia was holed up in the library watching DVDs. Ruthanne was an Instructor Assistant at the time, and unbeknownst to Tricia, she was meandering around the area with her friend and co-worker, Lauren, looking for something to do. On Ruthanne’s way by the library, she saw Tricia sitting there and did a triple take! Ruthanne immediately found her friend Katie, who was the Kennel Supervisor at the time, and asked her “what’s her deal?!” gesturing towards Tricia. Distant glances and eye exchanges continued between Ruthanne and Tricia for the next few weeks. Finally, a group hangout was planned where both Ruthanne and Tricia were invited, and it was then that they finally spoke to one another. And though it was just jokes about Cards Against Humanity and then sharing a couch while petting a cat, it was enough for them to exchange numbers and the rest is history.

The original plan: Provincetown, MA among friends for the perfect weekend getaway. The final plan: Andover, NJ among fewer friends for the perfect day of taking the dogs swimming. Let's dive in some more. For Christmas 2019, Tricia gifted Ruthanne a trip to Provincetown, MA scheduled for the following June. Going for a long weekend with two other couples, this trip was going to be the perfect weekend getaway in a welcoming and beautiful beach town (at least, that was Tricia's dream for it). Tricia's plan was to schedule a dinner out and before leaving for it, a bottle of champagne was going to be opened and Tricia was going to toast to all their friendships. Then she was going to continue into a beautifully thought-out speech about her love for Ruthanne and their future and all that goes into a proposal speech. Unfortunately the beginning of 2020 had other ideas and the trip had to be canceled. Tricia didn't want to cancel the proposal though, so Plan B had to be thought of! What was Plan B? It was going to be a little more difficult now that Tricia couldn't just whisk Ruthanne away under the guise of a couples trip. Eventually Tricia decided to use her own birthday and asked Ruthanne if they could spend the day taking their dogs swimming at Kittatinny State Park in Andover, NJ. In preparation for this change, Tricia had to think of some cute touches to bring along so under the cover of needing to go to Lowes, Tricia snuck out of the house to secure the items. However, Ruthanne wasn't easily fooled and caught Tricia driving past where she said she was supposed to be which, if you know Ruthanne, led to a lot of grilling questions! Tricia held her ground though and on June 25th they met up with two friends and their dogs for a morning of dog swimming. The day and location were beautiful and after letting the dogs swim, Tricia asked Ruthanne to pose with her for a picture on the dock (feel free to ask Ruthanne how she first responded to this) and it was in that picturesque moment, water shoes included, that Tricia asked Ruthanne to marry her.