I am always so proud and grateful of the fact that Paul and I are high school sweethearts.

But in fact, our story begins farther back in ABC Central School, where Paul and I attended the same pre-school program. Our moms were even the teaching assistants for our class! We went to different elementary schools, and our paths didn’t cross again until high school. Paul was a senior, and I was a junior. My first job was at a Hallmark card store, and I had to work on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2014. Paul and I had been talking and getting to know each other, and on this particular Valentine’s Day, Paul surprised me at the Hallmark store with chocolate covered strawberries, flowers, and a teddybear The best part was that Paul took the time to prepare the strawberries how I liked, and at the time he didn’t have a car of his own, so he was accompanied by his mom, who waited in the car, to deliver the surprise. The sweetest surprise!

Fast forward 9 years, we got engaged on May 27, 2023. During those 9 years, we grew up together. We went through undergraduate college together, law school, trips to the Grand Canyon, the Pacific West Coast, Mexico, and more. We’ve been together through different jobs, through living apart for over two years, through losing loved ones, and witnessing each other and our relationship grow through it all. We have been by each other’s side for over a decade.

And now, 11 years later, we are getting married! We were 17 when we first started dating. How fortunate are we that we have been together for 11 years, and we’re just getting started.