Picture it: NJ, 2000. Two awkward teens on a first date to Saving Silverman (pic included). We dated, broke up, stayed friends—but never quite let go. Life took wild turns (even prison and divorce), but God knew our timing better than we did. We were told we’d need surgery to have kid but surprise, we didn’t. Now we have two beautiful children and a love story full of plot twists, second chances, and laughter. We were meant to be… it just took us a while to get there.

There have been so many great memories—high school days where Tom was always losing a shoe, trips to California, eating at Michelin star restaurants, and of course, our kids’ births—but our favorite has to be our Harry Potter-themed wedding in the OBX. The girls were Gryffindor and the boys were Slytherin with my uncle/Godfather dressed as Dumbledore to perform the ceremony. We rented a big beach house with our closest friends and family and said “I do” right on the sand. Pure magic!

We decided to take a chance and sell our house while it was a sellers market, thinking it would quickly change back after selling; unfortunately, that was several years ago. We've been paying 3 X more renting than with our previous mortgage and it's draining our savings. This would help buy our forever home and provide a stable living environment for our kids, hopefully back in the town where we both grew up. It would mean so much!