This story starts like a lot of great stories, during a party in the barely finished basement of a crappy house in Woodbridge Virginia. I had recently “graduated” college and was passing my days serving cheesecake to the people of NOVA while I attempted to find work that didn't require me to wear an apron. I was poor, single, but ultimately optimistic that good things were on their way. I just didn't know how soon. 


The night in question started out business as usual. My buddy Jared was throwing a party and wanted me to come. So there in a smoky basement, while people struggled to talk over music, I acted as beer pong referee, trying my hardest to make people laugh, enjoying the energy of being in the mix.


When in walked Rayghan. 


This is gonna sound mean but it’s true, she was clearly out of place. First off, she was gorgeous (no offense woodbridge) but second she clearly didn’t know anyone other than my coworker Amanda which is rare in an industry where everybody knows everybody. So I quickly asked Jared. “Who's that girl who just came with Amanda?” “I dunno.” He replied in his infinite, yet unhelpful wisdom. 


“Is she single?” I asked. “I dunno.” he replied again. “Why don’t you go find out.”


So I did just that…well kinda. I made awkward small talk with Rayghan until I gave up and just decided to ask Amanda if she was in fact single, and to my relief she was. Now came the hard part, I had to actually talk to Rayghan, which was harder than you might think. For starters, and I’m sure this comes as a shock to most people but I’m painfully bad at talking to girls and secondly due to my previous awkward attempts at conversation, Rayghan thought I was making fun of her. So her attitude towards me was less than ideal. My reputation as a mischief maker was biting me in the ass. 


But I continued on, and with the occasional pep talk from my Italian brother Mario (who was also in attendance) and reassurance from Amanda that I wasn't a complete douchebag, Rayghan and I spent the entire night talking. It wasn't until the night was coming to a close that I realized if I wanted to see her again I’d need to ask her out on a real date, she was going back to UVA soon and I doubted she was down to party with the Cheesecake Crew again anytime soon, and so I did. She accepted, gave me her phone number and I almost screwed the whole thing up again by waiting three days before texting her. I was still trying to play it cool, ya know? 


Anyway, she forgave me and our first date went so well that we decided to go on a second one before she left for school. So I pulled out all the stops and took her to the Marine Corp museum near Quantico (She said she liked museums, sue me.) before embarking on a day-long trek through a series of random places I “planned” to take us which in reality were just locations I tacked on because I didn't want the date to end. But as weird as that was, it worked because we decided to continue dating long distance when she went back to Charlottesville. 


That started an incredible three year span of exploring Charlottesville that we both look back on fondly. After Rayghan got her Masters degree we moved her back to Alexandria where we enjoyed finally living in the same city and spent our time hanging with friends and playing intramural sports (Rayghan’s Idea) while preparing to take the dive into med school.  


We weren't sure where we were going but we knew we wanted to do it together, so when Rayghan got accepted into EVMS in Norfolk we packed our bags and headed to the 757. Since then we’ve gotten engaged, raised our furry boy Ronan, been there for each other through the hard times and made even more incredible memories with family and friends. Now we’re on to the next big chapter, marriage and residency!


That’s definitely the cliff notes version of our story but you get the idea. I’ll happily give a more in depth version in person when you come for the wedding, voices, pantomiming, the whole nine yards. 


-Matt