Steve graduated with his bachelor’s and master’s degrees that summer and moved back to Long Island while Casey began to set her sights on moving out West. You see, Casey had heard the rumors about kids from Long Island never leaving and a densely populated island with a high cost of living didn’t mesh with her dreams of working with wildlife. Throughout the summer they traded off visiting each other and talked about a potential future but Steve seemed set on staying in the area. It wasn’t Long Island that Steve was committed to; he was devoted to his group of childhood friends which became apparent as the frequency of Steve's upstate visits dropped off. As beautiful as it was to see such genuine love between a bunch of 20-something boys, it didn’t seem like there was any room left in Steve’s life for a girlfriend. Then right before New Years, something incredible happened – Steve told Casey he wanted to spend New Years Eve with her and her friends. The fact that he was willing to spend such an important evening away from his boys was the commitment Casey had been looking for and they affectionately consider January 1st, 2016, the date they officially started dating.

Several months later they took a trip out West with Casey’s friend Mary with plans to check out the border city in Arizona where Casey has just been offered a job. Steve was supposed to fly out early but after spending a week adventuring with the two spontaneous women he purposefully missed his flight home. At that point Casey was already second guessing her decision to move across the country when she received a call the following day offering her a job working for National Park Service on Fire Island. It seemed the cards had aligned and a month later she was on her first Fire Island ferry.

Steve spent the next year and a half introducing Casey to life on the island – from beach days to riding the Long Island Railroad into concerts and sporting events. Casey spent that time showing Steve how much more enjoyable life could be when you surround yourself with pets. Every cat or dog lover will tell you that your pets are the quickest way to see if someone is compatible with you. When Casey brought home a stray kitten she found at work she thought Steve would be angry. Instead she fell in love with Steve all over again as the kitten, affectionately named Jeff, became one of the most important things in Steve’s life.

In 2018, Casey moved back up to the Capital District to pursue her masters degree and they began what would become several years of long distance. Throughout that time they spent almost every other weekend together and made it a point to take several trips each year to travel. They have made innumerable happy memories on their adventures…they have drank wine in Napa, celebrated in the streets of Paris when France won the world cup, drank a homemade liquor made from an endangered flower with a goat farmer in the French Alps, overcome a fear of heights at the Space Needle, the Eiffel Tower & the St. Louis Arch, they got sunburns on the bleachers at Fenway & Wrigley, they’ve hiked coast to coast from Acadia to Mount Rainier and seen concerts at more venues across the country then they can possibly count.

Finally in 2021, Casey couldn’t stay away any longer and moved back to Long Island. They started playing house at their little rental known amongst friends as Snail House. Over the next few years life proceeded to reward them with promotions, graduations, a new puppy addition and eventually…a proposal!