Patch and Hannah met back in August of 2013. They both made their JV Green soccer teams at Mason High School and started to notice each other across the practice field. Patch actually noticed Hannah in July during the preseason classic (soccer tournament), telling his dad how pretty she was from afar.

Hannah became good friends with some of the girls on her team who were in Patch’s grade, and they began to hangout frequently. The name Patch started to be brought up in more of Hannah’s conversations, and the name Hannah quickly became part in more of Patch’s conversations. In lucky timing, Hannah, and Patch both ended up walking into one of the Mason football games at the same exact time, right as it started to down pour. Hannah grabbed Patch’s hat without thinking twice so her hair wouldn’t get wet and ran into the tunnel. Patch followed and the rest is history. They talked the entire night, even when the game started back up after countless rain delays. The day is a day Patch always brings up when telling their love story. He will always tell everyone his first love was Hannah’s eyes, and it was under the tunnel at the football stadium where he fell in love instantly, he knew Hannah would be in his future.

After this encounter sparks began to fly. Patch was very shy during this time and was too afraid to ask Hannah for her number that night. To his surprise he received a text from a new number…that would be Hannah. Upon reading the text, Patch jumped up, chucked his phone, and began running around his friend’s basement celebrating like he scored the game winning World Cup goal.

A few months passed, and Patch asked Hannah to be his girlfriend in the most romantic way possible. In the bushes of his friend’s house playing sardines. After that, they went through all of high school together as one, homecomings, proms, soccer games, basketball games, student government, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, and every small moment in-between. They became inseparable and each other’s person. They knew each other like the back of their hand.

Patch went to The Ohio State University for his undergraduate degree and Hannah went to Ohio University. They both had the chance to grow individually, become their own people, and share their college experiences with each other. Debating doing long distance was never in question for them, it was always worth it. The weekend visits were frequent and always a blast. Fall semester Hannah would visit OSU to attend game days in Columbus, where spring semester Patch would visit OU to attend their infamous fest season full of partying. On top of these essential weekends, they also had date parties, formals, and just weekends where they stayed in. With every hug goodbye there were plans to do it all again very soon. Each school year came and went with them always looking forward to the summer when they could be together every day and spend most weekends at Patch’s grandparents’ lake house at Clear Lake, Indiana.

Once Patch graduated and COVID hit, he started his first year at The University of Findlay, pursuing his doctorate degree in Physical Therapy. Because of COVID, seeing each other became more difficult, due to needing to stay healthy for in-person labs and other school necessities. This was a difficult adjustment for them both, as they were so used to seeing each other every weekend. They quickly had to learn how to adjust in loving each other from afar, for longer periods of time. Hannah graduated from Ohio University and began working full-time. This posed as another shift in their relationship as Patch was jumping around clinical rotations and work took over Hannah’s free time. The step up in academic workload from undergraduate to graduate school was a very big challenge for Patch and took a lot of adjusting for him. It was during this time he needed to lean into Hannah’s support. Hannah recognized this tough adjustment and began visiting Findlay more frequently with a lot of visits selflessly spent watching him study or work on school assignments and just being there to support. They pushed through their last few years of long distance and finally got to be in the same city again, for longer than a summer.

Patch graduated from his DPT program and proposed to Hannah that summer at Clear Lake, Indiana, surrounded by family. Wedding planning began, apartment hunting, job hunting, and all the small moments in-between started to fall into place. They now live in their first apartment together with their dog Wilbur and are both working. Life is good and their relationship has never been better. Almost 10 years in the making and what a blessing it has been to be able to grow up together.

We are so grateful to every person who stuck with us, supported us, and loved us through the last ten years, and are so excited to celebrate our special day with our closest people!