Malena and J.P. met through mutual friends in Toledo more than seven years ago. Although they were both in and out of different relationships, they stayed acquaintances. In September 2021, Malena was wandering around the Inverness Club golf course at the incredible Solheim Cup and bumped into J.P. on a walk down the tenth hole to the Meijer Pavilion. What started as a, "Hey, how are you? I haven’t seen you in a while." turned into hanging out the whole weekend at the golf tournament. J.P. says, "We haven't been apart since." He's right.

Malena was determined to "do things differently" this time around. J.P. was in for a lot of "different" too, finding himself on a date on a warm October day riding his bike around Kelley's Island. "I'll tell you this is definitely not the way I normally cruise around Kelley's. Generally, there's a golf cart and a beer involved." After an action-packed fall with a trip to Keeneland and holiday season, they began the New Year together in COVID quarantine for ten days followed by a trip to Florida for the St. Pete Beach Classic 10K/5K race where J.P. ran his first true race! They spent the spring traveling to Cancun in March. In April, J.P. was the best marathon training supporter, ever! He even took the red-eye home from Charleston, SC, after spending three days celebrating his best man’s bachelor party, to meet Malena on the course of the Glass City Marathon at mile 21. He rode her into the finish line! Malena had never experienced that kind of support, motivation and dedication before. Things were starting to get real! Then came the planning of an unforgettable trip to see J.P.'s childhood friend, and best man, get married in Annecy, France! But, before that trip could happen in June, came the marathon of a move to get Malena transitioned from her downtown apartment of four years to where she, Duke and Shorty would make their home with J.P., Jack and Moose in Ottawa Hills.

The whirlwind adventure to France started with missing their connection in Amsterdam and sleeping on benches in the Schiphol Airport. They made the best of it! The next morning, they landed in Geneva and had a quick lunch before driving to Lake Annecy in France where they would celebrate the beautiful union of Chris and Lauren Ballard. All of the guests were dressed to the nines, J.P. looking like he was ready to follow in Daniel Craig’s footsteps as the next Bond, James Bond. It was a wedding and celebration full of friends, love, great food, espresso martinis and dancing until 4 a.m. After the wedding they drove to the historic mountain ski town of Chamonix. The setting was a backdrop worthy of fairytale. A fairytale is what followed... On the day Malena and J.P. were supposed to go to the top of Monte Blanc, a bad storm was rolling in that shut down the gondola. Instead, they crossed the valley to go up Le Brevant Mountain. Malena was convinced that J.P. was getting altitude sickness (or was secretly afraid of heights) because he was pale and looked like he was about to be sick. Looking back, J.P. said Malena looked “like a mountain goat skipping up to the top.” On June 24, 2022, at the very top of the mountain Malena was looking out across the Alps, with three different countries in view. Behind her, J.P. was using hand gestures to communicate to a nice French lady that he was about to propose and that he needed her to take photos. The woman quickly understood the assignment when J.P. pulled out the ring. J.P. told Malena, “I want to have every adventure with you.” and asked her to spend the rest of her life with him taking on whatever life throws at them because he knew he could get through anything with her by his side. Naturally, there were tears, smiles, J.P. getting down on one knee and Malena saying, “holy shit?! YES!” Little did J.P. know, their next adventure was fast approaching as the emergency alarms at the gondola started sounding because the storm that shut down the Monte Blanc gondola was heading their way, and fast. You guessed it, they got stuck at the top of the mountain for two hours as the storm passed. Divinely placed was a tiny bar tucked under the gondola station. When they walked in the song that came on the radio was the Etta James classic “At Last.” They both looked at each other and smiled. They passed the time sipping champagne, eating macaroons and calling their parents. And, yes… bars on top of mountains in the French Alps are stocked with champagne and macaroons. After leaving Chamonix in newly engaged bliss, they drove south through Italy to Nice and spent four days celebrating their engagement before heading back to the States. Their adventure continues on September 30, 2023.