Abby showed up to my co-ed softball game. I played hard to get obviously with some small talk. Went yard at my first at bat (light work). After the game we celebrated our double digit loss with a couple beers. She hung around and we talked a bit after the game. I walked her to her car and asked her out. I got home and saw she had already slid into my LinkedIn dm's. The rest you can say is history...

Jess and I were at Zumba when she came up to me and said that she wanted me to meet someone named Anthony. She was dating one of his coworkers and thought that we might hit it off. Of course, I would trust Jess with my life, so I said when and where? She recommended that I come to one of the DLR Softball games to meet him. So on May 21, 2021, I headed to Field 9 near Lake Nokomis. I had no clue what this guy looked like, I was just hoping he was cute. As soon as I saw number 15 on the team, I hoped with all my heart that was the guy I was supposed to meet. I even took a picture and sent it to my sister, saying that I hoped he was Anthony. Thankfully, I was right in my guess of who Anthony was, and we met that night after the game. He walked me to my car that evening, and we went about our lives...sort of.

I thought he was incredibly handsome, so I immediately went home and started googling him. He will probably tell you that I looked up his LinkedIn 30+ times (it was like 5 times)...but I didn't care because he ended up knowing I was interested. I was headed down to my cousin's wedding that weekend, and we ended up getting each other's numbers, setting up a date for when I was back in Minneapolis. I suggested Hola Arepa for our first date. We grabbed a cocktail across the street after dinner and then cookies by the U of M. We ended up having 4 dates over the course of 5 days, and we made it "official" on June 29, 2021.

Unless one of us has been traveling, we have made sure to spend some time together each day, growing in our relationship and learning more and more about each other. We have done so many fun things together: went to a USMNT soccer game, saw Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias in concert, met each other's families, explored Disney World, celebrated friends getting married, participated in DLR Softball seasons, seen a multitude of movies at AMC Theatres, to name a few.

My life is better with Anthony by my side, and I am a better human when he is with me. I knew in October (after only a few months of dating) that he was likely the guy I was going to marry. On my 30th birthday, he spent the day with me. We had breakfast, walked to Starbucks for my free hot chocolate, put up our Christmas trees, and went to see a movie. That night he took me out for Italian - all I wanted for my birthday was ravioli - and then he told me we could go home and watch Fargo. Little did I know that when we got home, Anthony was going to propose. He came to me in our room, got down on one knee, and said lots of amazing little things that made me remember why I love him in the first place.

Saying yes was the easiest decision of my life. Since then it has been a whirlwind of excitement, and I can't wait to see what this next piece of our story brings.