Connect How did your love story begin?

We met working together at a Jimmy John's in Northern VA while we were in college in 2017! We were friends for about a year, and Sarah was seeing someone else for a while. She had tickets to a Wizards NBA game for herself and the other guy, but he ended up ghosting her... Sarah knew that Sam and his friends loved basketball, so she offered him the tickets. Sam said that she should still go have fun too, so we went together!! We consider that basketball game to be our first date and anniversary!

What is your favorite memory you've shared as a couple?

After 8 years together, multiple moves, countless trips and adventures, we got engaged this past January (on the anniversary of the basketball game!). We were celebrating our anniversary and getting ready to go to a dinner reservation when Sam surprised Sarah with a video edited to Time of Your Life by Green Day - it was a montage of all of our beautiful memories over the years, and it ended with a clip of him walking into a jewelry store. It was the most perfect, special moment of our lives.

What would you do with $20,000?

Living in Northern VA, our dream of being homeowners one day has been getting farther and farther out of reach. Planning a wedding, though it's been so special and exciting, has put that dream even further on the back-burner. $20,000 would give us a down payment to work with, which would be a monumental help with making the dream of owning a home a reality!