Our story starts in the early 1980s when Mitch’s mom, Pam, decided to pack her bags and move from Wisconsin to California. After some time in Southern California, she started working on a horse ranch with a girl named Shelly and the two of them became close friends. Within a year or two, Pam got homesick and moved back to Wisconsin. Shelly and Pam stayed in contact and after a few calls, Shelly was able to convince Pam to move back to California. They both ended up working on a horse ranch together with Lou and Cindy Roper - Samantha’s parents. Shelly got married to Bob Stevens, and now the five of them not only worked together in southern Cali, but started to build a lifelong friendship. Pam’s time in California eventually came to an end and she moved back to Wisconsin where she met and married Phil.

In the spring of 1994, Cindy (in California) and Pam (in Wisconsin) were both pregnant at the same time and one day, while Pam was on a tractor spreading manure (do ask her for the story!), she remembers thinking, “What if our kids got together someday?” Later in 1994, Lou and Cindy welcomed Samantha, while just two months later, Phil and Pam welcomed Mitch.

The families stayed in touch, but as time passed, the contact slowly became less and less…with the exception of a few exchanged grade school photos, which have since been found in old boxes, over 20 years later, and are currently up on the refrigerators at the Jazdzewski and Roper homes! Years later, Facebook was finally invented and sure enough, Cindy and Pam were able to reconnect. Pam saw one of Cindy’s photos of Samantha in high school and commented that, “She is the same age as Mitch. He’s a very nice boy !!!” Mitch remembers his mom showing him the photo, and on occasion he would continue to check Samantha’s Facebook. But Samantha and Mitch continued to live their own unique lives, several thousand miles apart, not knowing anything about one another.

Years passed and this is how Mitch and Samantha finally met… Mitch was finishing up flight school and got his orders to San Diego, CA. He reached out to Cindy on Facebook Messenger saying he’d like to meet them. In 2021, Samantha was living in New York City, but happened to be home on vacation the same time Mitch and Cindy planned to meet. Mitch came over and the three of them had dinner and visited the old ranch where the parents used to work together. He remembers seeing Samantha for the first time and hoping one day he’d have a chance to date her. Over the course of a year, Mitch spent numerous occasions with Lou and Cindy while Samantha was still in New York. Mitch would spend as much time at the Roper’s as he could 😊. He had a promotion ceremony at Miramar where Lou and Cindy were able to reconnect with Mitch’s family for the first time in over 20 years!

Samantha returned back to live in San Diego, and in April 2023, prior to Mitch deploying to Okinawa, Japan, Cindy invited Mitch to go with her and Lou to see Samantha’s performance of The Bodyguard. Mitch enjoyed hanging out with the Ropers and had feelings for Samantha but didn't want to say anything until he knew for sure something was going to work because he didn’t want to make an awkward situation with the families. Then, in October of 2023, Cindy, Samantha, Shelly, Pam, and Mitch's sister, Molly, were on a girls trip together in Washington. Without saying anything directly to Samantha, Mitch had asked his mom and sister to try to find out if she would maybe be interested in going to the Marine Corps Ball with him. When the trip was over, Mitch eagerly asked his mom and sister if they thought Samantha would go if he asked her, to which they both said ‘yes.’ A few days later and after much thought, he finally messaged Samantha asking if she wanted to go to the Ball with him in December after he returned from deployment, which she happily agreed!

Upon Mitch returning back to the States, the Ropers invited him to dinner to ask all about his adventures during the summer. After dinner, Samantha invited Mitch to hang out with some of her friends. Thanksgiving was the following week, which of course, Mitch spent with the Ropers. The day after, Mitch took Samantha to her first NHL game up in Anaheim. After the game, Mitch insisted on going to Downtown Disneyland to see the Christmas decorations, when in reality he just wanted to spend more time with her. She was expecting him to make a move, but he didn’t in order to prevent an awkward two-hour drive home if things went haywire.

Mitch had feelings for Samantha since the first day he met her two years prior but planned on waiting to tell her until after the Ball because he had asked her to go “just as friends.” They were hanging out a lot and Samantha's feeling for Mitch were getting stronger and stronger. One night, after watching movies, Mitch was saying goodnight to Samantha and was walking out the door when she stopped him, much to his surprise, and asked what was happening between them. Mitch had planned to wait until after the Ball to tell her, which was still two weeks away, but the time to tell her was now. Without hesitation he told her, leaving her speechless. He finally got to tell her how crazy he was about her and that she was all he ever thought about. She wasn’t expecting all of that and because she was so stunned, she barely said anything back. He went home thinking he blew his chance, but by the time he got home, she texted him saying she felt the same way and that she was sorry for not saying anything more because of how shocked she was!

As the Marine Corps Ball and Christmas got closer, Mitch and Samantha spent every weekend and countless hours being together, driving around looking at Christmas lights, ice skating, and meeting each others friends. They spent as much time together as they could and the relationship quickly grew each day as it felt like they'd known each other their entire lives. Three months of dating passed and Mitch bought a ring. The next month was spent planning the proposal which happened in early May - and she said YES!