Jim and Mary met in the fall of 2015. They were not the type to go out and party in college, so they both knew to meet someone they'd need to turn to a dating app. After weeks of talking, they scheduled a date: Jim picked the restaurant and Mary got tickets to Emerson's production of The Spitfire Grill. Mary knew if he was a good theatre buddy, he'd be the one. Check! Many dates later, Jim and Mary were at a wrap party for a friend's film where Mary asked him if he wanted to officially be boyfriend and girlfriend, to which Jim replied "sure!" Don't worry, Jim still feels bad about his accidentally lackluster response, Mary still teases him about it to this day. Through many formative life events (21st birthdays, graduations, first crummy jobs, second crummy jobs) the main constant was each other. Once they settled into their "grown up" jobs, they were finally able to get an apartment together in Quincy. They made the small apartment a home for 2 years despite the 4ft by 4ft kitchen, but it grew even smaller once Covid lockdowns began. An opportunity to rent a whole house with a yard in the next town over, and two years and one dog later they still call that house home. They have been through so many ups and downs, but they've been through them together and there was no hesitation in Mary's answer when the living room of that house became the site of Jim's proposal.

Although there is much debate about the perfect time to get your Christmas tree, to Mary and Jim it is the day after Thanksgiving. Dry tree branches in December be darned, as soon as the turkey is in Tupperware, it's Christmas time for them. When the usual tree stand near them was still waiting on their delivery, Mary was ready to call off the search and wait a few days for their trees to come in. Jim refused to give up just yet and so they kept driving until they found the Boy Scout stand a few towns away. They returned home successful, and though Mary is usually of the mind to let the tree "settle" before loading it up with ornaments, Jim was insistent that every ornament get placed that day. Unsuspectingly, Mary assisted in getting the tree all dolled up. With that task done, she turned to get some other non-Christmassy chores done in the kitchen after ignoring them all day. From the living room she heard Jim say "Mary come in here, I found an ornament we forgot." Mary shook the suds off her hands, confused, and went into the living room to find Jim on one knee with the ring box (upside down) in his hand. Shocked and a little mad she didn't wear something "cuter" that day, she of course said yes as their dog Stitch celebrated too by ferociously chasing her tail in the background. Through lots of family facetimes later, Jim and Mary found out that their proposal story was all too familiar to Mary's Grandma. She received her ring in an incredibly similar way: Grandpa was helping to pack up the family tree at Grandma's parents' house in Long Island and called "Mare" in from the other room to help with a "forgotten ornament." Mary still gets goosebumps when she thinks of this incredible serendipitous connection and she knows there are loved ones still looking on and celebrating her and Jim's marriage.