We met in June 2006 before our senior year of high school at Columbiana Mall. Christina was there on a trip with a summer program in which Richard’s best friend was also enrolled. After a very loud obnoxious greeting from across the parking lot between the two guys, Christina was immediately the third wheel and head over heels for the loud curly headed boy who kept making everyone around him laugh. A week later we had our first date at the movies. After a summer of late night phone calls from hotel rooms during summer trips and even overseas, our senior year together began. Richard driving to see Christina at halftime during PHS football games, attending prom together and spending countless weekends together at the movies, and wandering around the mall. Our relationship continued into college with weekend drives back and forth to Florida when Richard moved for school. However, we were young and the distance was tough… we took a break and went on to do a bit of growing up on our own. Years later, after many moves, and all the random run-ins with each other against all odds, we started over as friends. Supporting each other through tremendous loss and life changes, it was kind of impossible to ignore our love for each other. We got to know each other again as adults, but also quickly remembering the things that made us fall in love when we were kids. Deciding on forever together was easy. We got a puppy together after driving to New Jersey in a nor’easter. Freya, our sweet Irish Wolfhound, joined the family in January 2022. Richard proposed June 3, 2022 with all of Christina’s closest friends in town. It was so romantic - an empty arcade mall on Main St. with candles, sunflowers and lanterns lining the upper walkway as Richard got down on one knee to tell a joke before asking Christina to marry him. Obviously she said yes ❤️