This love story began on a study abroad trip to Seville, Spain. Ben and JaLisa were placed on the same team for a scavenger hunt, and someone asked, “What do we even get if we win this thing?” to which JaLisa quietly replied, “Glory”. Ben overheard her and asked, “Did you just say glory?” and the rest is history.

While studying abroad, they got to visit new places together like Granada, Spain, and Lagos, Portugal. Each trip brought them closer together. When it was time to head back to the U.S. Ben promised he would plan a trip to Michigan to visit JaLisa over the summer, and he did. It wasn’t long after that JaLisa took the journey out to Massachusetts for the first time.

After graduating college in 2015, JaLisa packed up her 2003 PT Cruiser and the two drove from Michigan to Massachusetts, where they lived together in Salem for over 7 years. While in Salem, their love for Halloween grew even more as they enjoyed dressing up in ridiculous costumes, like traffic cones and giraffes, to stroll the city. Their downtown apartment quickly became the perfect location for pre-games and parties. There were no shortages of late nights filled with drinking games, balcony chats, and tasty snacks (thanks JaLisa!).

Since COVID changed the working world, the two found themselves working from home full-time. This is when JaLisa made the decision to surprise Ben with one of the greatest gifts of all time, and his name is Leo Johnstopher!

Ben proposed to JaLisa and, in true pandemic fashion, they tested positive for COVID that evening. It sure is a good thing they are in love because they had to quarantine together in JaLisa’s parents’ basement and drive 15 hours cross-country during the peak of the illness to get home to Massachusetts. Despite feeling like hot garbage juice, the two could not stop smiling and were eager to share the news!

With the cozy Salem apartment feeling a bit full between two people working from home and a puppy, it was time to expand and buy a house (mainly so that Leo could have his own space to run around if we’re being honest). This ended up being the perfect opportunity to move to JaLisa’s home state of Michigan. Ben successfully drove the monstrous U-Haul all the way to Michigan, using only a tiny Bluetooth speaker for music. It wasn’t until the day after when JaLisa found the aux port on the dash that could have been used the entire ride. This is just one of many perfect examples of how the two complete each other.

Moving from the city to the country meant that little Leo was missing out on all the downtown dog friends he made. Since Ben and JaLisa’s lives center around his happiness, JaLisa signed up for adopt-a-pet alerts for Bassett Hounds, and this is when Fritz Carlton came along to complete the family. The hounds are the most loving and playful pals, but make sure you keep an eye on your socks otherwise its fair game with these two. And this brings us to today, where they are living their best lives in Michigan and enjoying each moment together. They cannot wait to celebrate their love with all of you next April!