To say their story was simple and straightforward, could not be farther from the truth. This picture above was one of their first dates to a hockey game where they invited a mutual friend to "not make it awkward."

In the Fall of 2022, Christine and Matthew, independently decided to enroll in paramedic school at Bergen community college. After orientation, where Christine being the pro-active person she is, created a group chat for everyone in the class so they can communicate about assignments and struggles (more so the latter).

If you asked their friends independently of each other, you would hear that Christine was already ready to settle down, but Matthew on the other hand, had no plans of planting roots anytime soon. Fortunately though, this would soon change.

Not long into school, Christine's mother was diagnosed with Cancer and eventually lost the fight, to which Matthew was there through thick and thin while slowly starting to feel a relationship brewing.

After much conversation, late night study sessions, hockey games, brewery tastings, early morning coffee meetups, and tearful nights (some due to her mother, some due to class), they found many commonalities (their love of cheesecake, Winnie the Pooh, Coffee and Hockey) and formed a genuine friendship to which very soon later grew to more. Soon the nicknames "Cheesecake" and "Honeypot" stuck and are still continuously used.

As their relationship grew and the semesters in school got tougher and more demanding, Matthew and Christine helped each other in and out of the classroom until eventually, commuting back and forth from each of their parents houses was just too much.

In the late spring of 2023, Matt leased his apartment in Fair Lawn to which Christine silently but graciously and slowly moved in to. First starting off with a piece of the closet and one drawer and some pictures to eventually most of the closet, a whole dresser and her PS4 permanently placed under the TV.

If you asked Christine when she knew that Matt would be her husband, it was the moment when she came home from working at the animal hospital to find her clothes moved to the bigger part of the closet already done for her, unprovoked, giving her significantly more closet space.

Matt, on the other hand, just on a regular tuesday working together on the ambulance (as EMTs), knew Christine would be his wife when he witnessed her yelling at a bunch of kids to stop fighting in the parking lot of chipotle.

As time went on, it now turned every night into an average everyday sleepover which consisted of a battle of who makes dinner, does the dishes, the laundry and takes the trash out. After quite a few months of this, Christine officially moved in (even though the dogs didn't come with her).

Not long after, their apartment was no longer just a place to crash after a long day of working the paramedic truck (double shifts included and far too frequent). It was a place where their friends gathered for girls/guys nights, last minute dinners, a meeting place before hopping on a train to go somewhere, vent-session meet-up spot, hockey nights, Halloween parties and even Friendsgiving. Pineapples became the theme to the apartment due to Sarah's (Matt's sister) housewarming gift. It slowly filled with picture frames and albums of people they loved and missed, more throw pillows and blankets then Matt would like, and decorations for each of the holidays. Those four walls now held in secrets, tears, jokes, arguments, laughter, memories, and a whole lot of love. It became a place that was more than just an apartment but "home."

After renewing the lease, they would find that living together was not as difficult as they thought. The routine got easier, smoother, and less chaotic. Though the place was never as clean as Christine would like it, it remained all "theirs."

After MANY hint drops, conversations with her friends, father and mother later, Christine must have finally gotten through to Matthew because on October 17th 2024, Matthew finally popped the question to which commenced the wedding planning. Now, in that same apartment, it still held all those wonderful things, but also "tablescapes" of their engagement party, and decorations for their wedding (because you know Christine was not going to wait to order things on amazon).

Though the two have had their fair share of struggles, in the midst of it all, they found each other- finally.