June 21, 2013. After graduating from their respective colleges, two mutual friends wanted Jackie & PJ to accompany them to Atlantic City for a night on the town. Neither Jackie nor PJ wanted to take a three and a half hour car ride for one night but were convinced to go based on the promise of similar personalities and compatibility.

Saying that the couple became "instantly comfortable" with each other would be putting it lightly. The first picture ever photographed of the couple shows the backseat of that car ride to Atlantic City with Jackie wearing PJ’s hat and her legs stretched over his lap. Even though they were strangers in the backseat, everything felt natural and simple.

That night was a fun-filled event: drinking, dancing, gambling. It ended with the group begging Jackie to come back to Bethel instead of Long Island to stay the weekend. PJ offered to bear the bridge and the traffic to drive her home on Sunday and she agreed.

From that weekend on, the two were inseparable and officially started dating six weeks later. They would alternate weekends of seeing each other on Long Island and in Bethel. As Jackie didn’t have a car at this point; she would travel up on multiple trains, showing just how much she cared for PJ.

The couple spent their time singing, boating, having game nights, going to casino nights and much more. As a couple that loves adventure, they went back to Atlantic City to celebrate the night they met; took a boat trip with Faith & George to Kismet; organized a few trips to NYC, Mohegan Sun, and Down the Hatch; and participated in a few classic board game nights. If there was one thing in common that everyone would say, is that the love and connection they share was unlike any seen for people at such a young age.

The couple took a break for few years to grow and mature into the people we are now. During the break, Pj and Jackie would find excuses to talk to each other and check-in. It was almost impossible not to. They still shared a deep connection after not being together for a few years.

Jackie and Pj reunited in person in December 2021. They decided to go out for Italian food and immediately the same comfortability came back to the point where a very intoxicated woman came over and asked how long they'd been dating.

The couple decided to go on a few more dates. After dating throughout 2022; Jackie, Chalis (our 5 year old Chihuahua/Terrier mix) & Pooh Bear (our Chinchilla) moved up to Danbury into Mischief Manor for the summer. At the end of the summer, PJ asked her to stay in Danbury with him.

One night, while watching tv, PJ noticed that everything was great except that Jackie seemed to be missing something: a ring on her finger. He knew that it was time to take his grandmother's diamond and create a work of magic for their first long vacation together to Universal Studio's Harry Potter world followed by cruise to the Bahamas. February 2023 came quick and with the ring ready, PJ planned a few ideas to propose to her when she least expected it around Jackie’s tyrannical mission to ride all of the rides Universal had to offer. After 8 hours in the park, multiple failed location spots and a sore foot; the couple found themselves sitting in a corner of Diagon Alley that somehow didn’t have a lot of foot traffic. Heart beating way too fast, PJ got out the Golden Snitch ring holder that concealed the ring inside. Trying to figure out how to steer the conversation away from annoying children and what rides were still on the list, he asked “Are you having a good day?”

“Yes of course!" She replied. "Are you having a good day?"

PJ said that he was actually really nervous and Jackie was confused by that. He followed up by saying “I’ve been trying to give you something all day and couldn’t find the moment to do so.”

As he showed her the Golden Snitch, Jackie asked "What’s that?" as she was confused how this appeared as it wasn’t purchased anywhere throughout the day.

PJ said “It’s a golden snitch and I open at the close of our single lives.”

He opened the Snitch and asked Jackie to marry him to which the first thing Jackie said was "Are you sure?" Then promptly started crying.

After momentarily forgetting to say yes, she said yes, the ring was placed on Jackie’s finger as the two reveled in the moment together in the middle of Diagon Alley.

After a flurry of congratulation phone calls, more crying, a great celebration dinner, Jackie running to the nail salon to fix the broken middle finger nail on her left hand and a week long cruise; the couple was ready to begin their lifetime adventure together.

"Things we lose have a way of coming back to us in the end, if not always in the way we expect.”

"After all this time? "Always."