It’s April of 2020, nobody is really able to meet others naturally in the wild, and thus many singles are on the dating apps. Even introverted Jeff, who thought he’d never download them, had a couple of them. After showing interest in one another and talking off and on for a couple months, Jeff asked Alex on a picnic date set for the beginning of June at Allerton Park.

A couple days before they were supposed to meet on their first date, Alex reluctantly tried to reschedule the rendezvous due to a pesky and especially angry cold sore forming - right on cue for a first date, of course. Fortunately for the two, Jeff somehow convinced her to not cancel, and promised to only poke fun at it a couple times during the date. Banter aside, Alex warned Jeff that regardless of how any moment feels, to simply not try and smooch her at all during this first date…to which Jeff replied, “…counting those chickens before they hatch, lady.”

Jeff picked her up in Decatur on the evening of that early June day, then drove to Monticello to have the picnic. Being the true gentleman he is, Jeff packed every single item for the picnic and left no details out. The basket, the blanket, the variety of picnic foods - fruit, crackers, assortment of cheeses/dips/hummus, etc. Jeff didn’t realize until he was pulling everything out of the basket that nearly every single item he brought aside from the fruit was labeled “spicy.” Not knowing if Alex liked any spice or kick to her food, he says now that he was sweating bullets not only due to the extreme heat that day, but because he just bought all this food that he wasn’t sure she could even eat or like. Luckily it was the first date and Alex went easy on him and assured him that she does in fact like spicy foods. They ate very little because of the hot sun, drank a lot of water, joked about how Alex felt like an ugly ogre, and Jeff took Alex home…and the only spice that evening was in the food.

Flash forward to mid July and the two were exclusive. August came around and Jeff got to meet Alex’s boys who he now loves and adores. Jeff officially moved in to Alex’s place about a year later, ending his lease on the home he rented in Champaign. Alex still jokes that Jeff was, “just looking for some broad in Decatur so he didn’t have to make that commute to work, anymore.” Jokes aside, a healthy relationship was forming, and a strong family bond between the four and their zoo followed.

In January of 2024, New Years Day, Jeff popped the question to Alex back at Allerton Park, where it all first began and she has never more confidently said yes in her life. They will be exchanging vows Labor Day weekend in a private ceremony in New Jersey, and Jeff will also be getting the best birthday present of his life — his bride and soon-to-be-called wife. Reception with family and friends to follow on the 21st night of September, 2024.

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