Many of you will know that we met while Phil studied medicine in Dublin at RCSI and Claire worked as a nurse, and you would think that their eyes met across a crowded hospital cafeteria or on a ward but no, we both just swiped right on Tinder.

A few days of talking led to our first date, mini golf. Phil pretended he didn’t have a competitive side and never kept score and well, Claire was scared by a mechanical monkey!

A whirlwind year passed by and then it was time for Phil to graduate and to go home to Montreal. Long distance was hard on them both, and on everyone who had to listen to them complain about it... ALL... THE... TIME… Despite a world wide pandemic they managed to keep their spark with several trips to see each other.

2021 was a year to celebrate as Phil matched to uOttawa for a residency in psychiatry and Claire got a two year visa to live and work in Canada. In July of 2021 she made the move to Ottawa to be with Phil. They celebrated shortly after her move with a round of mini golf!

The year went by in the blink of an eye and on June 30th, one year to the day Claire’s visa was granted, Phil proposed on the bank of the Gatineau river at sunset, where we took our first walk after Claire moved to Ottawa! As you can guess it was the easiest Yes of Claire’s life!