If Sarah and Jake's love story were a romance novel, the “friends to lovers” trope would fit their history to a tee. Jake and Sarah met at MUSC during grad school. They started as friends, were paired in the same lab group, and soon fell into the same friends group.

After spending lots of time over brunching, beaching, and fixing bodies, they discovered they have a surprising amount in common. They both love good food, spike ball on the beach, brewery hopping, nerding out over biomechanics, and the enjoyment of painful forms of exercise (crossfit vs running). In search of Charleston's best bloody mary, they started a weekly routine of weekend brunch - just the two of them - throughout second year. Every now and then they would have a special guest join, but no one ever stuck around, citing they didn’t want to be a “third wheel.”

After months of people asking if they were dating, Jake started to question…maybe they were…? Jake couldn’t wait for an answer and showed up on a stormy night to ask Sarah out.

After sitting down to discuss in detail how they would make long distance work during clinical rotations (he knew what he was getting into, Sarah is a Sheridan after all), they came up with a plan, stuck to it, and made the distance work. After their scrupulous planning, serendipity brought them together for their final and longest clinical rotation anyway, despite a randomized lottery.

After graduation, they navigated living in a full house of Sheridan’s for a few months, before moving into their first place together in Rosslyn. They started their careers, fell in love with their neighborhood, integrated into their new and old friends groups, and began envisioning what their future could hold.

They have learned a lot about each other over the last 3+ years and adapted to each other's backgrounds and ways of living. Jake has become a diehard Brighton fan, Sarah tolerates college football (Go Notre Dame!), Jake has learned how to channel his inner Ruthie when the Sheridan’s refuse to go to bed before 2 am, Sarah has started waking up before 10 am on the weekends, Jake has started eating tofu. Most importantly, they have spent countless hours building a life together: making new recipes, Saturday morning walks to the farmers market, traveling around the world, date nights in, and talking about everything they can think of.

After choosing a gorgeous ring, Jake popped the question six months later on the beach in Worthing, where Sarah summered as a child in her grandparent's home. With some sneaky photography and set-up help from Kate (dressed like a lost tourist in a big floppy hat, large sunglasses, and crocs and socks) Jake got on one knee and asked Sarah the easiest question of her life. The day was full of sunshine, happy tears, and champagne popping at Oma and Opa's by a cheering group of Dudleys

Life has been so good over the last few years, and we can’t wait for all that comes next!