John and I officially met when I was 14, and John was 16 years old (although I knew who John French was in middle school, as basically all the girls did lol). So when John’s friend started tagging John in my tweets you could say I was a little giddy. However, after growing up with two older brothers who constantly teased me, I assumed these boys were just messing with me—a soon-to-be freshman. John later direct messaged me on twitter to apologize for his friend. But I certainly did not mind, THE John French—the star football and basketball player with a smile that could melt any girl—was actually messaging me!

After we talked for a few more days, I began distancing myself because if I am being honest, I still thought they were messing with me. But to say that I was love sick over John was an understatement- I remember sitting at the kitchen table telling my mom I was nauseous and unable to eat, and all she said was, “you’re in love!”

John had previously asked me to watch him play in the first football scrimmage, but my friends were having a party so I went there instead, convinced John did not really want me there anyway. I heard that John had broken his arm during the game, and I felt terrible that I was not there for him. My volleyball teammate and I brought John a card and cookie cake to his house the next day to cheer him up. John was definitely taken by surprise that I was there and it was so painfully awkward that I thought we were done for good and could not even be friends because I was so weirdly shy!

Then, a few days later (because God hated me), I was with my mom at a hibachi restaurant when John and all his friends walked in. I was mortified, I thought I would pass away, but they waved and I said hi- my face beet red. Feeling so embarrassed and wanting to bury myself in a hole, I went out to the car leaving my mom to wait for the check. As I am sitting in the car relaying my horror to my friends about what just happened, I get a text from John asking if I would like to get ice cream that night. My friends told me that this was my last shot, and that I had to go no question. I begged my parents and they said yes as long as John came in to meet them. So next thing I know, John French is in my driveway broken arm and all picking me up for ice cream.

And the rest is history…

The summer before my junior year of high school, one of my close friends showed me a photo of the incoming freshmen. The moment I saw Lara, I instantly said, "I call her!" My friend then decided to play matchmaker and kept tagging me in her Twitter posts to see if she would reach out. Unfortunately, she never did, so I took matters into my own hands. I slid into her DMs, apologizing for my friend's persistence but secretly hoping it would spark a conversation ;)

I tried to be smooth when giving her my number, claiming I was getting off Twitter and she could text me if she wanted to keep talking. (Everyone knows you can just access Twitter on your phone, so it was a bit of a stretch.) Cheers erupted from my friends when I got a text from her right away. I think my buddy and I even chest bumped hahaha.

We started messaging more regularly, but then she surprised me by wanting to slow things down. I remember walking into football practice the next day, telling my friends, “Well, I just got dumped by a freshman.” I was confused because, despite our limited communication, there was definitely something special between us. I tried to see if she would come to one of my scrimmages later that week, thinking that if she showed up, I would have a chance. But, of course, she did not come.

During that scrimmage, I ended up getting hurt. Lara must have caught wind because soon after she reached out to me asking if I was okay. It only took me breaking my arm in two pieces to get another chance!

While I was recovering, we started talking again. A few days later, she and a friend came by to see me. It was the first time I met Lara in person—she was shy and barely even talked but it meant a lot that she took the time to check on me.

A few days later, I saw her and her mom at Sawa Steakhouse. She was again so shy, and I knew if I wanted this to go anywhere, I would have to make the first move. So with some encouragement from my friends, I finally asked her to go out on a date. When I sent that immature text asking her on our first date in 2013, little did I know that 12 years later I would have been asking out my wife.

John and I began dating on October 13, 2013, when I was a freshman and John was a junior in high school. Our relationship started as two young teenagers caught up in a whirlwind of love and grew to become a deep, unbreakable bond. Our time together has not always been the easiest, as we have endured close to six years of long-distance dating—but one thing has always been constant: our love for one another. Through every challenge, we’ve only grown closer, proving that distance means so little when someone means so much.

After John graduated in 2015, he attended the University of Kentucky, and as it was six hours away, we looked forward to seeing each other whenever we could. I attended The Ohio State University after graduating in 2017, and the distance remained challenging, but we always agreed that breaking up was not an option. No matter how painful the distance was, we both knew not having each other in our lives would be worse.

John received a job opportunity at Army West Point in New York in 2020, so throughout my last year of college, I would fly to visit him as often as I could. After I graduated, I attended Physician Assistant school at NYIT in Long Island, NY, while John worked upstate. We found an apartment in Westchester, NY, requiring each of us to commute about an hour, but we finally got to live together!

A little over a year later, John accepted a position at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh, and we were back to long distance. After graduating from Physician Assistant school in May 2024, I was so excited to move to Pittsburgh to once again to be with John.

To celebrate my graduation, we traveled to Italy, where John surprised me by proposing in Venice on June 28, 2024.

A long standing tradition at Canfield High School is to travel to Siesta Key in Sarasota, Florida, for Spring Break. Over the years, we have created so many fun and unforgettable memories there together. When John was a senior, I cried the night before we left because I did not want our time there to end. John and I carved our initials into a palm tree, and John reassured me that we would be back to make new memories one day. It feels only fitting that we will get married a year to the date that we got engaged, at our favorite place which holds so many special, sentimental memories.