Shannon and Matt first met online in February of 2023.

Shannon had recently accepted a fellowship with Seattle Children’s Hospital but knew that she wouldn’t move for another 7 months. After poor dating experiences in Tampa, Shannon decided to take a chance and change her dating app location to Seattle for ONE DAY just to see if the dating scene was any less toxic than Florida.

Dutifully rewarded within an hour, Shannon got a message from a guy named Matt asking her all about her plans to move - you see, he had just moved back to Seattle after spending 6 years in the military and all the nuances of cross-country moving were fresh in his mind.

Shannon had never lived outside Florida and was pleasantly surprised by how polite and helpful Matt was. During their many FaceTime dates after they got to know each other better, he helped her narrow down neighborhoods and areas that she might want to live in and he even drove by apartments that Shannon was considering to see them in person.

In April, Shannon and Matt decided that it was time to meet face to face. Matt made plans to visit Tampa so they could meet in person.

Unfortunately, the only time they were both free was the opening weekend of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour in Tampa, so Matt had to shell out quite a penny for his flight and hotel. He was lucky to find any openings at all - they saw sparkly outfits and cowboy boots all weekend. But it was money and time well invested.

Shannon and Matt spent that first weekend together touring Tampa where Shannon took Matt to some of her favorite places - he enjoyed his first Cuban from Luvchild, hand rolled cigars from Ybor, and a cute date to a speakeasy in SoHo.

It was a perfect weekend.

The long distance relationship bloomed.

Between the many FaceTime dates and calls, Shannon and Matt were able to see each other about once a month before Shannon finally moved to Seattle in September of 2023.

Matt was the first one to say “I love you” during that first week of Shannon being in Seattle. Shannon says she wanted Matt to say it first but knew a month earlier.

Matt attempted to be as helpful and supportive as he could throughout Shannon’s move and the beginning of the Seattle Children’s Advanced Practice Provider fellowship. The first six months were especially chaotic as Shannon was working 12-hour shifts for a week at a time. Shannon’s graduation from the program is a testament to her resilience and skill as a Nurse Practitioner.

During this time Matt cooked Shannon dinner nearly every day and often packed leftovers for her lunch the next day. Shannon attests that Matt made the most miserable parts of the fellowship more bearable.

During this stressful time Matt also did his best to introduce Shannon to the Pacific Northwest. He took her camping for the first time and made her take skiing lessons. She even tried raw fish.

Now that they were living in the same city, the once long-distance relationship now blossomed into a young love.

Things were getting “pretty serious” as they say.

After just over a year of dating, Matt knew it was time to take things to the next level.

He had a great conversation with Lou Nash while he was visiting Seattle about his plans to propose. He conspired with friends to design and purchase an engagement ring.

And in June of 2024 Matt got down on one knee in Hawaii and asked Shannon to marry him!

Shannon was about as surprised as she could have been - she’d been woken up early to “hike” and was not dressed “to receive jewelry.”

And so now here we are 18 months later!

Thank you all for being witnesses to the beginning of Matt and Shannon’s love story.

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