The Internet brought us together... twice... but not in the way you might think! It all began in the spring of 2016. Emily's mom was trying to convince her to join a Catholic young adult group in Boston. To appease her, Emily researched a Catholic hiking group on Facebook. She signed up for a hike of Mt. Greylock in western MA, a long drive from Boston, and volunteered to drive. She expected a few Boston-area folks to join her carpool, but it turned out the only taker was Rob! She picked him up right on time at 6am (foreshadowing their shared punctuality), and they chatted it up during the 3+ hour drive - especially after Emily had had her coffee. They became friendly while hiking, bonding over their love of the outdoors. There was no conversation to be had on the ride home, however, since Rob promptly reclined his seat and fell asleep when the journey home commenced! He must have felt pretty comfortable... Emily and Rob remained "hiking buddies" for the next six years. Rob introduced Emily to winter hiking, which she fell in love with (even after the first try ended in nasty frostbite). This gave them many opportunities to get to know each other on a deeper level, as Emily was the only female willing to hike the White Mountains in the winter, and the long treks up icy mountains provided hours of conversation. Emily's family even ran into Rob at St. Paul's (where we are getting married!) after Mass one Sunday - Emily's mom said to her after Mass: "now why can't you date someone like that?!" In fact, sometime around 2019, Emily did start to develop some feelings for Rob. Rob had gone off to business school out-of-state, so she decided to "wait and see." Soon, she began dating someone else. In 2021, Rob arrived back in Boston with his MBA, and continued to stay in touch with Emily. Rob, Emily, and Emily's boyfriend met up for a few hiking adventures throughout the year. When Emily and her boyfriend got engaged, Rob figured he'd missed his opportunity! That's when the Internet intervened in bringing the two together one more time. In July of 2022, Rob was perplexed to come across Emily's profile on a dating app. He texted her right away: "I haven't seen you and ___ in a while. Wanted to see how you're doing." Once Emily confirmed his suspicion, that she had broken off her engagement, he swooped right in: "Is there a time I could call you? There's something I wanted to ask you." It just so happened that Rob's text came in on the very day that Emily had marked in her calendar as the end of her dating fast after her breakup. She got the butterflies right away thinking about what Rob wanted to ask her over the phone (she knew), and a few days later the two met up for coffee and a walk around Cambridge. Just like their first car ride together all those years prior, they could not run out of things to talk about, and they haven't since - as long as Rob remembers to always keep Emily caffeinated that is. Seven months later, on March 12, Rob took Emily on their "first date" once more. This time, as they were walking, Rob stopped the conversation to get down on one knee and ask Emily to marry her. Of course, she said yes! A Throwback Photo...