Tom and I met online. We matched on Hinge on Thanksgiving in 2018. Our first date was the following week at Kaldi's Coffee in University City. Tom wore a blue sweater because I told him I liked the color. It matched his eyes. We could barely hear one another in the loud coffeeshop, and then Tom walked me to my car. Tom gave me a hug before walking to his own vehicle. Years later, I still remember how comforting that hug was. A couple of days after our first date, I showed up outside the Italian restaurant where Tom worked at the time and waited for him to get off work so I could see him again. Most folks would have called me crazy; Tom called me endearing. We were officially dating soon after. In the years since, we have been lucky enough to go traveling with my family quite a bit. Tom maintains that Collinsville will always be home for him. In June of 2023 we bought a house in Collinsville that we both love. In August, we went on another trip with my family, this time to Scotland, where Tom proposed to me on a beautiful cliff overlooking the sea on the Isle of Skye. Upon returning home, we adopted two cats from the Belleville Humane Society. We named them Ghost and Mori, and we adore them so much. We'll be spending the summer working on our gardens, playing my grandmother's piano, and taking our cats to get ice cream at Dairy Freeze. We absolutely cannot wait to see everyone in October.