We were about 15 years old. Christine was at her friend Kalynn's house on a sunny warm day. Kalynn's friend Andrew was going to come over with his friend Hal. We waited downstairs in Kalynn's grandmother's apartment for the boys to come over. Christine saw a tall head of red hair walk past the window, and then the doorbell rang! From there, we shared many phone calls on long corded phones, WBRU free concerts, and hanging out with groups of friends while Christine played hard to get, teenagers! When Hal started to give up hope, Christine enlisted the help of their friend Amanda to tell Hal to ask her out. We started dating and were totally in love. We would meet up on Thayer Street after school and wait for Hal's sister Leah to pick us up in her light blue mercury sable, complete with a fuzzy purple/pink steering wheel cover. We spent our time making out, listening to some of the best early 2000's music around, playing Perfect Dark on Hal's N64 or playing Gran Turismo on Christine's Playstation, going to Energy at The Living Room, and doing all the things teenagers do. We were young and did break up after a year and eight months (but who's counting, lol). As years passed, we occasionally reached out to each other to say hi. When we reconnected as adults, we were amazed to find out how many times we were right near each other without knowing. Almost like fate was waiting for us to find one another. We feel so lucky to have memories and experiences from when we were younger and then getting to know one another again as adults. It feels like a fairytale, and every day, we are grateful for that sort of magic.

I (Christine) was at my mom's, sitting on the new porch cushions, drinking gin and tonics, and discussing life. It was there that the idea of proposing to Hal came to life. I had been playing around with the idea of proposing to Hal with some disc golf spin, and maybe it was my mom's heavy pour that nudged it along, but I decided to go for it! Being the "traditionalist" I am (lol), I set up a secret dinner date with Joel and Jean, Hal's parents and my mom to ask them for their permission to ask their son to marry me. They said yes, so I started planning the details. There was a special disc that was hard to get, and I figured that would make the perfect "engagement ring." I got the disc, drew a ring on the back, and wrote, "will you marry me?". I planned to propose to Hal at the Thompson Dam disc golf course. It's near our house and one of our faves. I had a plan, a "ring," and just needed some people on the inside to help the day go by smoothly. Amanda, my long-time friend who was the same friend I enlisted to get Hal to ask me out when we were younger, and her boyfriend John had been disc golfing with us before and were willing to assist in the surprise! Leah, Hal's sister, lived nearby and was happy to coordinate getting people to the surprise location. Leah, Grace, Norah, and Max even scouted it out ahead of time. I WAS SO NERVOUS. I had roughly planned out what I wanted to say. I was all fired up on nerves and was throwing my discs REAL far that day, lol. It finally came time to propose. I got down on one knee and proposed to the love of my life on hole 11. He said yes! We headed off to hole 12, where our family surprised us with posters, champagne, and flowers. Hal was so surprised he said he felt like he had an out-of-body experience. We hung out and then headed over to Black Dog Bar and Grille in Putnam, Connecticut, where Hal's parents, Joel and Jean, treated everyone to a delicious celebratory meal.