It all started back in 2017 when Joe moved to Boston. He knew one person, Eddie Martin (spoiler alert: our matchmaker)! Joe and Eddie were at Stats in Southie and Gabby came to meet them. Gabby arrived wearing a Bruin’s jersey and eyeblack and proceeded to knock Joe’s beer into his lap when she shook his hand. For those of you that know Gabby, this is probably very easy to imagine. Joe was intrigued to say the least. Unfortunately, Gabby then disappeared for 3 months to ski and Joe was left wondering if he would ever see this mystery girl again. Luckily, Gabby returned and they quickly started spending a suspicious amount of time together. From concerts, Barrys classes, North End dinners, to sneaking chipotle and a full bottle of wine into a movie theater. That was just the beginning!

May 22, 2022: Gabby and Joe had just woken up very jet lagged in Palm Springs for the Starkey family vacation. It was 4 AM and everyone was wide awake but still hiding in their rooms. Joe had instructed everyone they were NOT allowed to leave their rooms because he had planned an early morning adventure for Gabby. He knew (with 100% certainty) that if everyone was awake, Gabby would never have agreed to go (FOMO). When Joe and Gabby arrived at the gate of Joshua Tree, not even the park rangers had woken up yet. Joe (anxiously) and Gabby (mildly annoyed) waited the hour for the park rangers to arrive and let them in. Once in the park, the nerves started to set in. Joe had researched the trail extensively, but everything started to look the same, so he was panicked about finding “the spot”. 5-minutes later, Joe realized they were about to come up on the oasis he had seen in all the trail maps. It was even better than the pictures had made it out to be. Joe walked to the base of the small waterfall and asked her to come check it out. Joe dropping to one knee, pulled the ring out from his very chic and manly fanny pack where he had been hiding the box. Gabby was taken completely by surprise. She couldn’t believe what was happening, but luckily was able to muster out a “YES” through her tears!