Eric and Candace first met in the spring of their freshman year of college (2014) although neither of them recall exactly when or where. Eric went to SUNY Albany and Candace went to SUNY Oneonta and both decided to play Ultimate Frisbee - a decision both would agree was one of the best they made in college. Their sophomore year (2015), Candace developed a crush on Eric and tried to plan a meet up in Albany but initially the plans didn't come together.
April 09, 2016
In the spring of their junior year (2016), Candace sent a Snapchat to Eric (probably about the Islanders) and they never stopped talking after that point. They both happened to be playing at an overnight frisbee tournament in Albany in March 2016 where teams are randomly assigned - fate would have it that they were put on the same team! Eric tried to get Candace's phone number twice that night but each time, she denied him telling him to just send the team's group pictures to the group on Facebook instead of texting them to her directly. It was probably because earlier in the night, Candace was running after a disc when Eric ran up behind her causing her to stumble and twist her ankle. They kept talking after that night and made plans to hang out in April. Candace took the Trailways bus to Albany on a Friday night, attended a party at Eric's apartment, and then Eric drove her back to Oneonta the next day where they attended Candace's team's Frisbee Prom "A Night Under the Umbrella".
Candace was eager to kick off their relationship that weekend but Eric made it clear that he did not want to do a distance relationship. They kept talking anyways and made plans to hang out a few weeks later in Albany. Candace had frisbee tryouts and it was Tulip Fest! This May 2016 weekend was the weekend Eric asked Candace to be his girlfriend to which she replied "Are you sure?". Over the summer, they saw each other for their first camping trip to Lewey Lake, Club Frisbee Tournaments, the Wildwood beach ultimate tournament, and trips to Long Island.
Eric and Candace went back to college for their senior years in the fall of 2016. They made sure to see each other every couple of weekends. Eric made trips to Oneonta and Candace went to Albany. They did a big friends trip to Montreal for New Years and spent a few days doing touristy things in NYC as their Christmas gift to each other.
May 06, 2017
Eric and Candace celebrated their one year anniversary on May 7, 2017. Friday night was spent in Oneonta for Candace's Frisbee Formal and Saturday night was in Albany for Eric's Frisbee Team Formal. We had pizza at midnight to celebrate! Eric and Candace both went on to graduate college and spent the summer in Albany where they played on the same Summer League teams. As summer came to and end, Eric moved back to Long Island and Candace moved home, too. The next year of distance became a challenge as for a time, Candace was working 12 hour day shifts at the hospital and Eric was working 12 hour night shifts as a cyber security analyst. It was during this time that Candace was considering going back to school and working in the hospital pushed her to pursue a degree in public health. She was accepted to Stony Brook in 2018 and did what she never thought she'd do: move to Long Island.
The next two years while Candace was in school consisted of weekend visits to Candace's apartment near Stony Brook or trips to Eric's house in Wantagh. They spent a lot of time golfing together, got to see some friends get married, took their first cruise, and made a trip to Disney and Universal Studios. Candace decided (against Eric's wishes) to foster a couple of dogs during this time and thank goodness she did - Eric really fell in love with one of the dogs. This will come in handy in a few paragraphs below!
May 24, 2020
When Covid took hold in spring of 2020, just a few months before Candace graduated, the world shut down. Eric and Candace spent every weekend of Covid at the Russo house listening to old reruns of Jimmy Buffet concerts in the backyard with the fire pit going or playing Catan with Eric's siblings. 2020 was weird - Candace even attempted to cut Eric's hair for him - twice - due to the barber being closed. The Russo family put on a backyard graduation ceremony for the five 2020 graduates in their family.Shortly thereafter, Eric and Candace were looking for their first apartment. After missing out on one place they liked and a few duds later, they shifted their focus to buying a house instead.
2020 was a big year for us! We bought our first house in Farmingdale, NY and immediately began working on projects. We also got to bring home our first puppy, Millie. Candace is forever grateful to her foster dog, Teddy for turning Eric into a dog person. Covid started ramping up again that winter so we focused on some house projects until we brought home our second puppy, Jonas in the spring of 2021.
February 28, 2022
Eric and Candace went on a week long cruise to the Bahamas, Mexico, and Honduras. On the first night of the cruise, Eric asked Candace to marry him. It was so fun having a whole week to celebrate! Even though it was not a surprise, it was still a very special moment. We booked our venue a few months later and the countdown began!
As for 2023, we have been focusing on our careers, enjoying spending time with our dogs, friends, and families, still finding more house projects, and still enjoying our time with each other. In June 2023, we took a trip with Eric's family to Ireland and London. It was Eric's first time to Europe. As we type this exactly one year out from our wedding date, we can't help but feel so lucky for the people in our lives to help us get to this point and how lucky we are to have each other. We can't wait to celebrate with everyone 9.13.24!
