Despite attending Roxbury High School together, and even having lockers in the same hallway for all four years, we did not officially meet until the summer of 2012. The summer after we graduated from college, we both worked as counselors at Camp Deeny Riback. Austin had been working there for the past few summers, and I was returning for the first time since 2007. I returned to the camp a few weeks early to help plan for the return of campers. That’s where I first met Marnie, Austin’s sister. The two of us instantly hit it off, and Marnie introduced me to Austin soon after that. As fate would have it, Austin and I were paired up as co-counselors, and spent the next 8 weeks working and (mostly) laughing together, both at camp and outside of camp. I was smitten (Austin was still catching on), and by the end of the summer, we had grown quite close. Despite our unique connection, between grad school and my move to DC, Austin and I lost touch over the years. Luckily, Marnie and I did not...

Fast forward 8 years… I was spending the day with my siblings in New York City in August of 2020. We tried to catch a ferry ride only to miss the departure time by minutes. With our afternoon plans cancelled, we went back to Marnie & Harrison's apartment to cool off. When we arrived, Marnie turned on the Washington Nationals baseball game. As fate would have it, Marnie had received a text from Shari earlier that day letting her know she may be on TV because Shari’s DC rooftop overlooks the stadium. (Good thing Marnie and Shari stayed close over the years!) It wasn't long before the TV camera panned to a cute blonde woman tanning on her rooftop (see video above). You can hear my emphatic "Bam!" in the video when I caught sight of Shari on TV. Even though the two of us had lost touch over the years, fate had put Shari right back in my life at the perfect time. I later texted Shari mentioning that I saw her on TV and added in a smooth line making a call back to an inside joke from years ago. The two of us quickly picked up right where we left off. It was like we were flirty co-counselors at camp again, always laughing and making each other smile. Even though I lived in Boston at the time and she lived in DC, within a week of texting and Zoom dates, we both knew the connection we shared was special and undeniable. After a year of a long distance relationship consisting of both of us racking up travel miles, countless late-night Zoom calls, and Disney movie marathons, Shari and I decided to move in together. Just one year later, we got engaged in Santorini. It took us 10 years to get together, but we knew we would have the rest of our lives to make up for lost time. The combination of fate bringing us together again, and the timing of us reconnecting almost a decade after initially meeting is the essence of our love story. Shari and I are overjoyed to share our special one of a kind love story with all of you.