One day I was bored and on snap chat, just wasting time, and my friend Dustin sent me a message asking how I was doing since he hasn't talked to me in forever. (Dustin worked with my sisters and I at Tabor Hill while we were all in college) After we caught up for a few minutes he asked me if I was single. I told him I was. He goes, "I have the perfect guy for you. He is a guy version of you." He filled me in on Ian and asked if he could give him my information so he could contact me. I said, "sure." I really didn't think anything of the whole situation because I knew Ian was from far away. Shortly after I talked to Dustin, I heard from Ian. We messaged back and forth for a few weeks. Then he started to call me, and we talked on the phone. We talked on the phone for about a month before Ian asked me to meet him in Chicago for dinner. After some encouragement from some of my friends, I decided to meet him in Chicago. At this point in time we haven't even facetimed yet, so I only really knew what he looked like through pictures. He did try to facetime me a few times before we met, but I had influenza really bad and I didn't want him to see me looking like crap! We decided to meet in Chicago on January 26th. We decided to meet up at a bar with some of my friends. As I was driving into Chicago that night I couldn't find any place to park my car. I finally found a place to park my car. (Long story short, I thought I lost my car) I called Ian crying that my car was stolen and I was freaking out! He told me to calm down and go back to the place where my car was to figure out what was really happening with my car. Once I went back to the car place I discovered that my car was not stolen! I felt like a total idiot because I freaked out on Ian about it and we haven't even met yet!!!!

Ian finally met me at the bar that night. We had the best time hanging out and finding out that we have so much in common. When I went home after that weekend, I didn't end up seeing Ian for another couple months. I think I was just nervous to jump into another relationship, but there was something about him that made me want to see him again. In March, I invited him to Michigan. He came to Michigan, and met the whole fam! Everyone was interested in this Ian guy. They didn't know what to expect. All that my family knew about him was that he was from CT. Ian spent the weekend with me in Michigan and we had the best time. A few weeks later I went out to visit him in CT, and then we traveled back and forth to see each other for the next two years!! =) Then on November 14th, in Washington DC, Ian and I met up in DC to have a fun weekend of exploring the monuments. We walked up the Lincoln Memorial and looked around. I wanted to take a selfie but he wanted to have someone take our picture. Next thing I know Ian is down on one knee asking me to marry him! <3

In December of 2018, I was heading to coach a basketball practice when my friend Dustin had texted me saying he thinks he has the perfect girl for me. He said add her on Instagram and talk to her. I'm sure I rolled my eyes at first, but after seeing her pictures on Instagram, I said Dustin, you know you might be right! I had sent her a message, and we began talking for a few weeks through the holiday. I felt like we got to know each other pretty well. I suggested that we should FaceTime so that we could get to see each other on video, but she declined. Then I suggested we do something crazy and meet in Florida for New Years to get out of the cold weather, and she was also reluctant. We continued talking and getting to know each other through January, and I tried again, and said it's great talking to you and getting to know you but are we going to ever meet?! So I had suggested that we meet in Chicago some weekend. Looking back now, I have no idea how she agreed to it. It was WAY out of her comfort zone. With a lot of encouragement from her friends, she agreed to do it. One of my very good friends from HS, Nick, lived in Chicago and I told him about this crazy idea, and he said dude, you should do it. Shelly also was meeting her friends in Chicago as well, so we both had a back up plan if the chemistry was not there. So I am at LaGuardia airport, rushing to park and get through security, and I get a call from Shelly. She was hysterical and said my car was stolen in Chicago. I was like huh? She said she gave her keys to some guy in a lot, and then was told that is not a legitimate parking lot. (Anyone that has been to the Hyatt by the river in Chicago does know how confusing that area is with multiple levels and trying to use a GPS). She didn't even care about her car, she just kept saying my high school volleyball stuff was in there. Little did I know how important that was to her. Turns out it was a valet lot, and yes, I still got on the plane.

After that weekend we continued to talk, I went out to visit her and her family, and then she had come out to see me. If you don't know me, I really enjoy to travel so while it was tough to be a long distance relationship, traveling wasn't a big deal to me. To her traveling was a big deal. We continued seeing each other at least once a month. About a year later over the 4th of July, she changed jobs and she got the notification while she was visiting me. I had suggested let's go somewhere to celebrate and she said ok. We ended up traveling standby to St. Maarten. The island was still recovering from a major hurricane, and many resorts and restaurants/bars were still closed. We had a great time, and unfortunately that wasn't the way I wanted our first exotic trip to go for her. I promise everywhere is not like that Shelly :) All of each other's friends and families wanted to meet us throughout the 3 years we had been dating. It was difficult with our friends and family all over the U.S. I recently lived outside of Washington, DC for about 3 years, and I always wanted to take her there. After a few failed attempts due to flight cancellations and her catching a bad cold (maybe COVID, who knows) it's now a running joke that she was actively avoiding meeting a few of my closest friends from Carolina that lived in DC. The COVID situation put a damper on a lot of the travel we wanted to do over the Summer in 2020. Finally, after her HS volleyball season ended in November we had planned a weekend in DC, and I said this is the perfect opportunity. We had a blast meeting my friends on Friday, and Saturday was the day. I had a few goals; don't lose the ring, don't embarrass her with a lot of people around, find someone to get a picture, and get a nice view of the National Mall. It couldn't have worked out better! :)