On July 11, 1998, The Diocese of Metuchen Young Adult Ministry had a picnic at the Sacred Heart Brother's Retreat Center in Belvedere, New Jersey. Jim and his friend Greg went to the picnic. After some persuasion from a fellow youth minister, Stephanie decided to go to the picnic, her first Young Adult function.

When Jim and Greg arrived at the picnic, they were volunteered to move a desk in the retreat house. Around the same time, Stephanie was arriving at the picnic. She greeted the youth minister who had convinced her to attend as well as a fellow AT&T employee.

Lunch was served and everyone got in line for the buffet. Neither realized it at the time, but Stephanie was behind Jim in the line and handed her the spoon to the pasta salad. After getting their lunch, Jim and Greg sat on a stone wall by the pool. While looking for somewhere to sit, Stephanie also headed over in that direction and ended up sitting next to Jim.

Jim began some small talk and they started talking. After lunch, everyone decided to go swimming. Stephanie left Jim and Greg to so put on her swimsuit. When she came back to the pool, Jim had already swum across to the other side. Jim says, "I went to the other side of the pool to test her. If she swam over to me, I would try to pursue this more." Stephanie DID swim across the pool to Jim.

Later that afternoon, Stephanie met John, Jim's brother, and Donna, John's girlfriend. Stephanie and Donna watched as the guys played volleyball, then everyone went for a quick swim before Fr. Dave started mass. After mass, Donna mentioned a volleyball game that another young adult group was going to be having the next afternoon. Jim invited Stephanie to go and offered to give her a ride. She accepted and plans were made for the next day.

Jim and Stephanie went to the volleyball game together the next day. They talked all the way there and all the way home, getting to know each other. When they got home, they went swimming in Jim's pool and played with his 8-year old next door neighbor. Jim made dinner for Stephanie (grilled cheese sandwiches) and they talked into the wee hours in the morning.

Jim and Stephanie's first official date was July 17, 1998. Jim arrived at Stephanie's door at 6:00 pm bearing an armload of flowers. They enjoyed a wonderful dinner of shrimp scampi and again talked until the about midnight.

Here is the first picture of Jim and Stephanie as a couple:

Jim proposed to Stephanie in the fall of 1998. He took her to the beautiful rosary garden at his church, St. Andrew's. He sat her on a bench, got down on one knee, and pledged to love her for all eternity. With tears in her eyes, Stephanie accepted Jim's marriage proposal.