We're Getting Married!

On June 18th, 2024, Ben and Sarah met on a pickleball court in Orlando, Florida. Far from their homes in Michigan and New Jersey, they were spending a month in Florida for their jobs with Cru as they joined full-time staff. As Ben strolled onto the court by himself, he asked if Sarah and the others she was with were there with Cru. Sarah, thinking he was a stranger who had stumbled upon a Cru hangout was surprised he knew about Cru, only to find out he was also on staff. This led to Sarah and Ben getting more acquainted with one another. They quickly passed through small talk and ended up giving some exaggerated stereotypes of each other's homes in Detroit and New Jersey. Ben and Sarah ended up playing as pickleball partners, winning against the other two players. Over the course of the month in Florida, Ben and Sarah slowly started to get to know one another. Ben at this point knew he was smitten and asked his roommates if they had thought any girls were cute, secretly knowing that he liked Sarah. His roommate Sam, knowing that Ben liked Sarah, tried to arrange times where they could see each other. Ben developed a crush on her but wasn't sure quite how to pursue her with all the other new staff there. After Ben’s close staff friends Dylan, Carrie, and Gracie arrived, they began to plot how Ben could pursue Sarah after he told them about his infatuation for her. After looking for a good opportunity to talk to her, Ben noticed Sarah writing on a posterboard of things to do in Orlando, and though he was midconversation, decided, “now is my chance.” With knees trembling, he worked up the courage to go and asked her out on July 8th. Sarah eagerly said yes and they had their first date a few hours after Ben asked (since Sarah was so excited with first date jitters and full of caffeine from earlier in the day). She appreciated Ben taking her to get Indian food and ice cream (her favorite). They ran through the rain to get to Kilwins for dessert and then sat outside and ate their ice cream in the rain under an umbrella that was too small to cover them both fully. They ended up having a second and third date in their limited time left together. On the last night when Ben had to leave at 3am for his flight home, they said goodbye, not knowing where life would take them next. After both being home for a few weeks, Ben’s friend Matt encouraged him to go drive to New Jersey to see Sarah. Ben was listening to a song at the time called “Old Neptune, He's Roaring" that encouraged him to “go get the girl,” giving him the courage to go pursue her. Sarah was surprised and honored when Ben asked to come visit her in New Jersey, and they set up a trip in August. Ben then drove through a hurricane on his way to her, but enjoyed a beautiful sunny and warm summer weekend on the East Coast where he got a taste of what New Jersey actually looks like. After memories of mini golf on the Ocean City boardwalk, eating Kohr Bros ice cream, pottery painting in Pitman, looking at animals in the Cape May zoo, and watching the sunset at East Point lighthouse, they knew that time together just felt right. Later that month they made their relationship official, which marked the first of many trips to each other’s home states. They experienced many fun memories together both in person and online: enjoying slow walks in art museums, eating lots of food, completing online escape rooms, being competitive over board games, baking together, and more. After many late night FaceTime calls, plane rides, and love letters sent back and forth, Ben decided it was time to put an end date to long-distance dating. On August 3, 2025, Ben took Sarah to East Point Lighthouse and got down on one knee to ask her to be his wife. Sarah felt 100% confident of her yes.