Gab’s Side:
Joe and I met as a result of being the “yes man and woman” of our squadron at work. We both volunteered to be in the Booster Club, where we worked as a team to plan events and raise money for our squadron’s annual holiday party. We also were two of three people asked to be a part of the squadron’s Brief Team, where we presented current event briefs to our squadron Commander each week. The first day I ever spoke to Joe, one of the Lieutenants heading the team told me that Joe was joining the Brief Team and I was to explain what the role entailed… precisely 15 minutes before I was scheduled to be giving a brief. This meant that I was cramming last minute information into my head and stressing about the delivery of the brief. The last thing I wanted to do was interact with Joe at that point in time. I am forever grateful that he was there that day though, because he was the one who calmed my nerves in the minutes leading up to the brief itself. But enough about how our professional relationship started. As normal humans, Joe will tell you that he asked me out first - and technically he’s right. But I “successfully” asked him out first. Joe had texted me one day and asked me if I wanted to attend a volunteer event with him for work. Unfortunately for him, I was going on a weekend trip to OBX that I was not going to pass up. However, the next week I texted Joe and asked him to go to the beach with me and our friend Autumn. Thankfully, he said yes! The very next day, Joe asked me to grab dinner with him at our local Panera Bread, where we found ourselves losing track of time in conversation and literally closed the joint down. From that day on, I knew I really liked Joe, and the rest of the love story started to unravel. About a year after all of that, we bought our first home together. On December 21, 2023 Joe and I took our dog Nala back to the same beach we had our first official date on, Fort Monroe. Sweaty from a run (per usual), Joe got down on one knee and popped the question. It was a perfect day (:

Joe’s Side:
I remember meeting Gab when I showed up late to our first Booster Club meeting in February 2022. I knew from the start that I thought she was stunning and for the next two months I got to know her little by little. We began to interact a little more through our work with the booster club and the brief team and unbeknownst to her, I was developing a huge crush. Around May of 2022 I went home to Reading and when asked by my family if I had any women in my life I tentatively told them that I was really into this girl that I worked with. I remember describing Gab as this super beautiful, driven, and intelligent woman who is a fantastic athlete and drives a cool car and has so many friends. I’m sure after spending my whole adult life single my folks thought “yeah, sure Joe, she’s probably real.” Sure enough, no matter who it was that asked the other out, we began dating a month later. Life with Gab has been exactly what I had always hoped for. Everyday for two years we’ve had the time of our lives running, traveling, laughing, cooking and doing just about everything together. Gabbi, Nala, and I are a family and I I am at my happiest when I’m with the two of them in our little yellow house. I’ve known for a long time that Gabbi was the one. After asking her parents and ordering the ring, I had it for all of 24 hours before I gave it to her on our favorite beach. For some reason she said yes!