This love story starts with two doctors. Or almost doctors. Sleep deprived and data logged doctors to be, locked in a marathon of studying; living on a dream of saving the world and moonlighting as matchmakers because everyone needs a hobby. “I need to find my brother a nice girl.” T.C. DeMartino-Ringler announced when they surfaced from a particularly deep textbook filled with words only doctors can pronounce. “I know a nice girl.” Kevin Lavender replied, reaching for his now cold cup of coffee housed in a Star Wars mug. A plot was born.

Shelly Burkett was not a nice girl. Or she was, but also a highly suspicious of set ups, deeply independent, and liked books more than people kind of nice girl. “Why do you think we would get along?” She asked Kevin when he texted her about passing along her phone number. “History buff, nerd, Marvel>>>DC, witty, loves board games, plus wine is more important than blood.” He texted back. “We might get along.” She conceded. And a beginning was born.

A introverted Virginia girl, an Ohio to Pittsburgh transplant whose job took him to a new place every week—the first month of their relationship was limited to texting and phone calls. But Shelly knew she was a goner the second Mark sent her a video of himself singing falsetto in an outdoor bar in Memphis, Tennessee. Their first date was July 1st where they ate burgers at the local Virginia restaurant Burgers, Beer, Bourbon. What was supposed to be a lunch date stretched to accommodate a bookstore visit, a coffee break, and then a sushi dinner date. Their second date, wisely planned to take up a whole weekend, included a Lord of the Rings themed restaurant in Alexandria and a few hours talking under the stars in which Mark schooled Shelly in arc-seconds and other fun space facts. Dazzled by his knowledge and charm, Shelly made a bad moon joke and impulsively kissed Mark for the first time when he laughed anyway. The next day was a quick photo session demanded by loving family members (what she was wearing, what he was wearing, the car’s license plate) and a four hour road trip to West Virginia’s Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum for the best second date ever. A plane ticket snafu on Sunday led to unplanned late night road trip to Pittsburgh and really from that point on they were just doomed to fall madly in love with each other. A love story was born.

In October of 2019, a year and four months after that initial text, Mark took Shelly to Gettysburg and set up a eighteen mile bike tour of the battle fields. The morning was the perfect day for a bike ride—chilly and overcast with the sun peeking out between clouds and the leaves in full fall array. An animated and knowledgable tour guide took them through the town and the fields, the monuments and the memorials, telling stories every mile along long the way. They climbed up and up until they reached the top of Little Roundtop, sixteen miles in. With the valley spread below them and the sun winking in the sky, Mark dropped to his knee and asked Shelly to marry him. She said yes. And now a new story begins…