We began seeing each other regularly to go on hikes in the Fells. We kept our relationship a secret from our parents because they (Alex's especially) were anxious about getting COVID.

Alex would tell his parents that he's going on a walk/hike or playing basketball. Because of this lie, he didn't want anything to seem out of the ordinary, so he always met her unshowered, and somehow she didn't mind!

After about 8 months of our secret relationship (our friends knew), we couldn't hide it anymore. Alex came clean to his mom and she was thrilled to hear about it. The relationship began escalating soon after, when we met each other's parents, and our dogs met each other.

At the time, Emma's family got a puppy, a Wheaton named Goose. Goose and Alex fell in love on first sight and still to this day, Emma has to compete for Alex's attention.

While Emma was living in Brookline, MA, Alex visited her at her apartment at least once per week. It turns out that Emma was paying for his parking expenses (almost $40 per night) without telling him how much because she knew he would make a big deal of it and search for free parking. Eventually, they started splitting the cost.

Since she lived so close to Fenway Park, and we had illegal access to Student 9s (last-minute $9 tickets to Red Sox games), we went to a bunch of Red Sox games. What a great time to live in Boston!

Emma and Alex both enjoy sports. Emma was a D1 lacrosse goalie at American University, and Alex is a recreational basketball player. We often played basketball and lacrosse together when the weather was nice.

About two years into the relationship, it was time to pursue Emma's ambition to go to PA school. Alex, his mom, and Emma's mom worked tirelessly to edit her ROUGH drafts on her essays. Emma was accepted at Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY. Alex was quite familiar with this city because he graduated from undergraduate school at Syracuse University. However, he was not thrilled at the idea of Emma moving there. Not only would we live apart, but Syracuse is a cold, dark, and snowy city, 5 hours away from Boston on a good day. However, Emma decided to accept the offer because it was her best shot at pursuing her passion.

PA school lasts 27 long months. Emma thrived by earning straight A's and had an active social life with her classmates. Alex continued to slave away at KPMG for 80 hours a week, doing taxes for hedge and private equity funds.

Eventually, Alex got a new job at Bain Capital, and he had more opportunities to take road trips to Syracuse, around once per month. Even though the trips were tiring and the tap water tasted bad, those were some of our happiest moments together. We partied with her friends, saw Syracuse sports games, explored different restaurants (Alex discovered his love for seafood boils), went ice skating, and made incredible meals and margaritas.

In June 2025, Emma graduated as valedictorian of her class. Although she didn't have a job lined up, we decided to purchase a house together, given her promising job prospects, and Alex's insistence on purchasing property (for tax deductions, inflation-protected asset growth, and eventual exclusion of gain on sale of principal residence!).

After only a few weeks of looking at open houses, they put in an offer on a third floor condo unit in Melrose, and it was accepted!

Alex did plenty of work on the house while Emma was finishing up at school. One of the large projects was painting the entire interior. Unfortunately, when moving all the open paint cans to the basement, the box exploded. Paint went everywhere, and now it is permanently established on our exterior.

Nonetheless, we are living very happily together in our condo. We are close to our families, Orange Theory for Emma, the orange line train, and plenty of amazing restaurants. Only issue is Alex can't fit a pull up bar in this 19th century house.

After a long job application process, Emma was finally offered a job at Boston Children's Hospital in pediatric Orthopedics. Although the days are long, she is fulfilling her purpose in her life.

And now here we are today - 4 months before the wedding! We are very excited to share the special moment with you all and appreciate you coming to celebrate!