We swiped right on Hinge in late 2018 and we met at Sparrow, a cocktail bar downtown, for our first date. After a month or two of dating, Sean told Sarah he was ready to be official.
After another month of dating, we had a casual dinner date at Chipotle. As we finished our burrito bowls and were about to part ways, Sarah quickly blurted out that she was ready to be official also. We now celebrate our "chipotle-versary" on February 10th each year.
In the summer of 2019 we went to a Cubs game and Kyle Schwarber hit a home run while we were standing in the bleachers. We were told we made it on TV together, which brought us to the realization that we had never actually taken a photo together after 8 months of dating. That realization inspired this photo opp!
In August 2019 we took our first trip together and went to San Francisco and Napa Valley. It inspired planning future vacations to Vegas, San Diego, Seattle and almost Aruba (but then Covid happened).
We knew within a year of dating that we had a real future together, and part of that plan was becoming roommates. At the end of 2019 we decided that spring 2020 would be the ideal time to move in together. We followed through with that plan, and little to our awareness, our pre-planned move-in date was the exact day Chicago issued a "stay at home order". Overnight, we became roommates, quarantine buddies, and "coworkers".
We adopted Rory after a few months of living together. Thank goodness for puppies--especially during a pandemic!
On the two year anniversary of our first official date, we took Rory on a walk along the lake front on our way to pick up bagels for brunch. Sarah was distracted by her phone messages blowing up in response to the election, and she did not think twice about Sean's frustration that she was only paying attention to her phone.
We walked off the path to give Rory a water break right by North Avenue Beach. Sean opened his backpack to get Rory's water bowl, and then reached in his backpack again and pulled out an engagement ring.
Despite spending every moment together in a one bedroom apartment during a pandemic, Sean still managed to make this day a surprise for Sarah. We were able to celebrate our engagement with the thousands of Chicagoans who were excited about the election results: our entire walk home had a soundtrack of people cheering, cars honking, and sun beaming down to create a bizarrely warm November day. We also were able to celebrate at pre-planned outdoor dinner reservations that we had originally made to celebrate our two-year anniversary.
After we got engaged, we began planning for our wedding. We can't wait to celebrate with all closest to us in April 2022!