The volleyball community in Chicago is a tight knit group. Having both played club volleyball in high school meant we were likely to cross paths at some point, and it happened the summer going into our junior year of high school. Some of Allison's friends/teammates were friends with some of Declan's friends/teammates and we started to see a lot of each other as the groups started to come together. We continued to see each other more through the end of high school when we realized we lived very close and even went to high school in the same district. We were never a couple at this point, but ended up very good friends before it was time to leave home for college. When high school came to an end, we followed different paths for college with Allison pursuing volleyball at the University of Memphis and Declan following engineering to the Colorado School of Mines. We stayed in touch through college, checking in on each other when we could and getting together with the old group during holiday breaks. When Declan graduated in 2019 and moved back home, Allison had transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee bringing us back within driving distance. At the end of that year Declan started working a schedule with a lot of days off in a row, giving him time to visit Milwaukee more. At one of those visits in February 2020 we officially became a couple. With much of the world coming to a halt within the next few months, having each other to lean on when work and school schedules allowed was amazing. Allison stayed in Milwaukee until December 2022 when she made the move to Chicago while continuing school in Milwaukee, now at Marquette. Shortly after that on a weekend trip to Holland, Michigan for the annual Tulip Festival Declan proposed while we were walking around the tulip fields. Now, we're looking forward to celebrating with all of you and whatever life has for us next!