Evan and I met at our family Church years ago when our sister became friends in youth group. Eventually, our dads also became good friends as well, but we don't remember our first time meeting.

When Evan was in high school, he started working for my dad at the warehouse. Dad would often send Evan on errands, like getting his car washed and filled with gas, picking up lunch, and sometimes even dropping me off at soccer practice (where the 5-year age gap gets a little weird).

A few years later we went on our first date on January 13th, 2021 at the sushi lounge in Morristown. I was 20, and Evan was 25.

I was still in college at the time, so I left to go back to VA shortly after. We stayed in touch and talked often. Then after a month or so, I came home to see him. I drove up to Jersey right before a huge snowstorm hit. The snow pretty much shut us in, so Evan planned an entire day for us in the city once the storm cleared the next day.

Our second date started with us driving into the city. Evan was so nervous he took a wrong turn and had us go back through the tunnel twice. Our first stop was the color factory. I was so nervous, that I wouldn't take any pictures (which is kind of the point.. lol). They also gave us so many treats as we walked through the exhibits, so we kept stuffing them in our pockets for later. When we finished walking through, we stood outside in the freezing February cold and ate our last treat from the color factory together, mochi ice cream, giggling because Evan ate the whole thing in one bite. After a stroll around the city and a quick lunch, we were back in the car.

We talked about the day and how much fun we had. Evan drove while I sorted through the treats in our pockets. we split each sweet treat and tried to guess the flavors. We had so much fun guessing the flavors of the macaroons, jelly beans, and popcorn. Bonding over food would be a common theme throughout the rest of our relationship.

Fast forward 2 and a half years later, we got engaged at the color factory, and once again on the way home, we ate macaroons in the car.