When the world seemed to be falling apart due to COVID-19, God introduced a masked athletic training student to a somewhat masked strength coach in Omaha, Nebraska. The Pod, as the hockey conference called it, was filled with small talk and mask-hidden smiles but no shared phone numbers. Jake had to resolve to connecting with Sarah on LinkedIn. After some time of not receiving a message, Sarah reached out to him for some help on the strength and conditioning certification exam (and maybe to flirt a little). Even with Jake accidentally giving Sarah the wrong phone number, she couldn't help but want to talk to him. The LinkedIn messages turned into texting, which later lead to many lengthy FaceTime calls. We were starting a foundation without knowing how far it would take us.

The season after the Pod, Sarah moved up to Duluth to start her career and work for "the enemy" as Jake likes to put it. We stayed in touch through texts, FaceTimes, and the more than typical meeting of the teams in season. As Sarah's time in Duluth was coming to an end, the athletic training position at SCSU with their men's hockey team opened. After a few years of building a foundation from afar God brought us to the same place at the same time. Sarah and Jake worked together for a year and got to know each other in a very different way. In April 2024, Jake told the boys we were dating and almost a year later, we got to tell them we were engaged.

Jake said he had a surprise planned for this weekend which Sarah didn't read into much since the last time he said this we went to a Dylan Scott concert (which was incredible). The surprise started with a FaceTime nail painting party with Lizzie (Sarah's sister) and Emma (Sarah's niece). Sarah's suitcase was packed with the 3 outfits Jake told her to pack while he brought along a suitcase and a backpack full of snacks. We headed out for a walk at the Quarries before the surprise weekend was supposed to begin (little did Sarah know). Jake was acting funny and weirdly stopped early on the walk to grab what Sarah thought was water, but it turned out to be a silver box. Sarah's heart stopped and the tears started. Jake got down on one knee and Sarah made the best decision of her life. But the surprise didn't stop there. We headed back to the car and Jake was weirdly putting off calling Sarah's parents. We drove back to Jake's apartment and the hesitation for the phone call made more sense. We opened the door of the apartment to see Sarah's parents, Lizzie, Emma, Andrew, Aunt Meg, and Mel (Andrew's girlfriend). Safe to say, it was the best surprise!