Although we didn’t have any classes together in high school, because Jamie thought AP & honors classes were important to her future, our two friend groups somehow merged and our story starts our junior year of high school, circa 2010. I was told by a friend to ask Jamie to our junior prom, but by that time, I knew her well enough to know that the answer would be no so I never asked. Turns out, I was right. Having told Jamie this after we started dating, she informed me she would have politely declined. After high school, our friends all remained close throughout college, Jamie going to George Mason University & me attending West Virginia University. We would always come back to Richmond during summer break for good times eating late-night mac & cheese and drinking Burnetts. After graduating, Jamie moved to Washington DC then Philadelphia while I stayed in Richmond, and we remained “just friends.”

Things changed in 2021. Love was in the air at a friend's wedding and Jamie started giving me some eyes over a glass of wine. The rest is history. We started dating long distance, driving back and forth from Richmond and Philly. We loved spending time with each other whether it be a “Sparkle Saturday'' at the Bamboo Café or drinking Miller Lites at Cav’s Rittenhouse. We occasionally met halfway in Baltimore to drink like sailors on pirate ships in Fells Point. The point is, we couldn’t get enough of each other and quickly fell in love.

After over a year of dating long distance, I moved up to Philly. We quickly found Kona in an animal shelter and started our little family. We have since moved out to the suburbs to give Kona a backyard and Amazon delivery drivers to bark at. In May 2023, during the same weekend of Jamie’s graduation from her Nurse Practitioner program and her 29th birthday, I decided on the ultimate trifecta and asked Jamie to marry me at a Quinn XCII concert. We can’t wait to celebrate our day with you all!