Our story begins in the summer of 2017 in San Antonio, TX. We both had just finished our first year of medical school and travelled to San Antonio to complete our 6 week long Basic Officer Leadership Course. Luckily for us, we were divided into groups based on our last names. Shah and Smolinsky immediately hit it off as friends and spent a wonderful afternoon together in the library completing online trainings. We became part of a very close friend group who did all sorts of things together: working out, going out in San Antonio, having meals, etc. Sheni especially loved having Todd around because he was the only one with a car on base and he could drive her to get her ice cream at the Pearl. Our story then shifts to Camp Bullis, where we spent many weeks together out in the field. Naturally, we chose each other as land navigation partners while we were there and this is where Sheni famously pointed out to Todd that he was leading them the wrong direction. Todd, knowing all, insisted he was right. Of course, Sheni was actually correct and to this day will insist that Todd is not to be trusted when it comes to directions. We graduated from BOLC together at the end of the summer having made lifelong friends and we left San Antonio without knowing when we would see each other again...

Over the next few years, our group of friends kept in touch and we even met for the occasional dinner while visiting NYC. In fall of 2018, we began talking more and more. This led to us planning for Sheni to visit Lansdale over the holidays. We spent the night in Philadelphia and from there our romance grew. Over the next year, we planned multiple trips to NYC, Philly, Alabama, and Florida to spend as much time as possible with each other. We even coordinated our interview rotations in Tacoma, San Antonio, and Honolulu together. In December of 2019, we found out that we would both be moving to San Antonio to begin our OBGYN and General Surgery residencies...

We moved to San Antonio together in the Summer of 2020 and for the first time we did not have to do a long-distance relationship anymore. This new experience came with a lot of growing pains but one thing was clear, we would do anything for each other. We traversed so much adversity during this time in both our personal and professional lives, but remained true in our conviction to one another. It was not all doom and gloom though. We made the most of our limited time off and were able to travel to many different places and experience the world together, one of our favorite things to do. We were able to afford a house together in Spring of 2021 and then adopted the love of our life, Trey, in the fall. 2022 was filled with more travel, more growth, and more love, which ultimately culminated in our trip to Washington D.C. in December...

December 30th, 2022

We took a trip to Washington, D.C. over the holidays to spend time with some close friends. This felt like the perfect time to propose so we could be surrounded by family and friends. Todd spent the day being extremely nervous that Sheni was onto him. She definitely started getting suspicious on our trip to the botanical gardens and was even trying to check pockets. Unbeknownst to Todd, the beautiful water gardens were a very popular destination this time of year with hundreds of people around. Regardless, we felt like the only two people in the world at that moment and we got engaged in front of the Christmas tree at the water gardens!