Tony & I met on Bumble, an online dating application, in 2017. Upon our initial conversation, Tony had asked "Is your mom's name by chance, Sarah?". I simply said yes without thinking too far into it. I soon found out both of our mothers, Sarah and Linda, worked together for a short period of time at Illiana Financial; this was about 6 months prior to Tony and I meeting. My mom was new at the office - one day she walked in Linda's office and introduced herself. While in Linda's office, my mom noticed pictures of her kids and asked of their names and ages. Linda responded that her daughter's name is Sarah and her son's name is Tony. My mom noted what good-looking children she had and also told Linda that she has a son, Jimmy, who is the same age as Sarah and a daughter, Krista, who is the same age as Tony. My mom then commented "our children should date!" (knowing that we were all single of course). And shortly thereafter that is exactly what Tony and I did... For those unfamiliar with Bumble, it requires the girl to initiate the conversation. Being my uncreative self, I simply initiated the conversation with "hey there". At the time Tony was living with his parents in Printers Row/South Loop after his family moved from Munster, IN. I was living by myself in West Loop during my residency year. When he informed me that he lived with his parents I responded with, "OMG, I am jealous. If I could live with my parents now, I totally would too". Tony remembers my response as he later mentioned to me that every girl prior to had stopped conversation after he noted that he still lived with his parents. I soon found out what a strong, close family relationship Tony had with his parents and sister. I remember thinking that they are just like my family. Not to mention that Tony and I are now living with my parents in St. John (in the interim).

A couple days prior to the much anticipated day planned by Tony, I tested positive for COVID. Tony was defeated mentally. He was adamant my test result was a false-positive. Mr. Rubino, Tony's dad, was also convinced that it was a false-positive and even wanted me to retest! I thankfully endured a mild case of COVID. Tony then replanned the engagement for three weeks later - 12/12/2020. Given it was shortly before Christmas, I was under the impression we were taking Christmas photos with the Rubino family at Union Station Hall, which was directly across the street from our apartment at the time. I had not one inkling of this day nor the original planned day (props to Tony). Tony got down on one knee as his sister took our Christmas photo. I was in utter shock. I then looked above at the balcony in the Hall and saw my mom, dad, three of my best friends, Tony's Aunt Mary and Uncle Chris - I was overwhelmed with emotion and joy. At which I thought I couldn't be more surprised, my mom informed me we were going to have a mini engagement party that same night at my parent's house in St. John, IN. My brother, Jimmy, also came in from Indianapolis to partake in our engagement party. We indulged in La Scarola food and lots of celebratory drinks were consumed. P.S. the engagement party was NOT a super-spreader :)