As the story goes, we met in a bar. Not just any bar, but The infamous Brick Street of Miami University. The circumstances of our first conversation are... well... very college. I was trying to make another guy jealous and firmly "requested" that Sam dance with me. I then left in quite a hurry and Sam thought he'd never see me again. But fast forward to the last day of freshman year and I invited myself and a few of my friends over to the swimmer house (little did I know it was JUST the swimmers... not a party, foreshadowing for many college nights to come). We hung out that night, and then both moved out of our dorms the next day. I was off to Ecuador for the summer, Sam was headed back to Springfield, and most would have thought that was it. Que the beginning of Sophomore year (Aug 2011) when I texted Sam to see if he was on campus early and wanted to hang out. For the next two months I was persistent on spending time together, and Sam didn't really know what to do with that. Finally, on the night pictured above, Sam told me "If you want to tell people I'm your boyfriend, you can", and the rest, as they say, was history.
Sam met my Parents a few weeks later at his first (and nearly last) Ohio State Game (Nov. 2011 - Penn State Game, you fans know the one). Sam didn't quite understand the religious experience that is an Ohio State Game for the Reiser Clan (especially Joe), and thought it would be funny to root for Penn State... In the Shoe.... While Ohio State was Losing.
Lord help him.
He proceeded to get a stomach ache and had to lay down on the bleachers at the very top of C Deck, and luckily for us all, Joe took pity on him. Sam learned very quickly NOT to root for other teams, and over the years has become a self-proclaimed Buckeye. We have celebrated many-a-game at the Bier Stube and the Shoe. We've celebrated the last 8 of my Birthdays (give or take) cheering on the Buckeyes, a Tradition that will live on even with the move to Utah.
Some time that same month, I was unceremoniously announced to Sam’s parents by our good friend Dan Nemeth, who took it upon himself to let the Flessner’s know that Sam had a girlfriend - much to their surprise.
Sam & I spent time with both families at Christmas time, which became an annual tradition until we moved to Utah!
Sam & I spent a good amount of time doing things for my family business, Winans, over the years. One of our favorite memories was working and enjoying the Mumford & Sons Concert that came to Troy, Ohio, where we sang and danced our hearts out, and celebrated Sams 21st birthday!
In 2014, we celebrated my Graduation from Miami. Sam had a little bit more time left (w swimming & that double major, you know). Both of us truly enjoyed the end of our Senior year together and were admittedly a little nervous for what was to come (okay, maybe that was just me since sam had said for 3 years that he would never do a long distance relationship... never say never Sam!).
I went off to a job in Cincinnati, Sam Interned at Marathon before heading back for his 5th year at Miami and our first year of long distance dating (yes, it was only 45 min, but it felt like more).
2015 Brought Sams (very rainy) graduation, Lots of Lake weekends, Football weekends, and a move to Findlay to work for Marathon. 2015 also brought a new job for me that allowed me to work from home and required a lot of travel (but more flexibility to see sam in Findlay when I was home). 2015 was a year of serious professional growth for both of us, and a a lot of time and space for growing & maturing independently, along with fun trips out west to visit Sam's Uncle Paul (our first "adult" vacation).
2016 was a year of fun, and a year of weddings (so. many. weddings). I moved to Columbus and Sam moved into a new House in Findlay. We rounded out the year with a Trip to St. Croix with two of our best friends (Hi Morgan & Will) - which was mine & Sam's first 'international' travel experience together (yes, it's USVI, but it felt international). 2016 was the year we became everyone’s favorite wedding guests (at least we assume we were). The King & Queen of any and every dance floor, we learned to only drink vodka soda's, and honestly discovered a deep love of celebrating our family & friends love.
(I think this also might have been the year we started our spreadsheet for what we wanted to have at our wedding based on our experiences with other peoples weddings - so... we've been planning this for a while y'all)
2017 - the year of EVEN MORE WEDDINGS - and y'all, we wouldn’t have it any other way. So many good times with family and friends. Weddings, Football Games, Sweet Sixteen Basketball, Sams first Triathlon, our first Memorial tournament, my first condo and back to living on my own, many weekends with Wilson & Lindsey & Jameson. All wrapped up with an epic trip to Thailand. Sam's first time to Asia, 3 amazing cities, 48 hours of terrible food poisoning (14 of which were on a plane for sam, woof), and tears at the thought of coming home and going back to living 2 hours apart. This trip solidified Sam & my desire to travel the world, eat all the food, and experience other cultures as much as possible.
2018 - The year of Graduations (and of course, more weddings). We spent a lot of time this year celebrating Wilson & Lindseys Graduations from OSU Law School (Wilson) and OSU Doctoral Program (Dr. Lindsey). It was also the first Flessner Family Vacation (that Jean was graciously welcomed to) in several years - full of hiking, beers and yummy food in Colorado (and Bronchitis for me - not my best showing...). This was what planted the bug for Sam to move out west. On the last day of our trip, I said to Sam "If you want to be here that bad, fine, I'm in. Make it happen, but I am not going to pursue it. If its that important to you, let's do it". Little did I know...
Later in 2018 I Surprised Sam by throwing us a "Common Law Wedding Party" for our 7th Anniversary. I have never been more nervous, and will likely never plan a surprise party again in my life. Friends came in from all over to celebrate with us, Wilson played the wedding march, and everyone had a fabulous time (including Salsa lessons by Gabe Guttierez in my living room until 3am).To end the year, Sam & I took a road trip up Highway 1 in California. It was a beautiful trip that we hope to do again, especially since we were both in a career "moment" and spent much of the trip [unfortunately] working. Lessons learned, and we've promised not to do that again.
2019 - Sam & I represented the entire class of 2014 alone at the Miami Alumni weekend (2024, No excused for the 10 year friends). Attended, yes shocking, more beautiful weddings. Sam went through one of the toughest work times so far in his career and spent a lot of time at my condo in Columbus as a landing place over the summer (Which I can't say I hated). In November, Sam surprised me with a sweet little bundle of golden joy - Meet Gilbert! God bless Lindsey and her support (she bought literally everything for Gilberts first days at home. Love you sis). Sam realized that he may not have thought the whole thing through though when he left to go back to Findlay after the Thanksgiving weekend and left me to deal with the midnight, 3am and 6am potty runs from the condo. Oh well, luckily I fell in love very quickly and couldn't be too mad.
Sam and I ended the year with a trip to Mexico where we made some new friends form NOLA & Australia, and then wrapped up the trip with a Reiser family trip to Honduras to visit coffee farms and spend time as a family. Little did we know this would be our last international trip for quite some time.
In 2020, even though our world was turned upside down (as it was for everyone), we were lucky enough to find a lot of positivity. First, Sam temporarily moved to Columbus during the first months of the pandemic since he could work remote. In March, we found out Sam had been offered a position in Salt Lake City, Utah, and that we would be moving out sometime in May. While this was a BIG change, it was also an exciting new adventure, and perfect way to start our lives together in a new place, making new friends, in the midst of a pandemic - what could go wrong? Lucky for us, nothing did go wrong!
In November of 2020 we made BIG moves. We bought a house, got engaged, and started planning what we thought would be easy, small, renovation projects on our house. We clearly didn't know what we were in for (as we are still in renovation move as of summer 2022), but we finished the year on a high note by taking possession of our house in late December and moving in early 2021.
2021 Brought career changes, a trip to Hawaii, 10 year anniversary celebrations, 30th Birthday celebrations, more house projects than we can count, and finally picking a date for our long awaited wedding.
It was a good year, but we know the best is yet to come. 2021 taught us to be home owners, entrepreneurs, dog watchers, outdoors enthusiast, and more. It was a great year in many ways, challenging in others, but was ultimately the beginning of our planning process - for the wedding & for our lives together.
2022 is all wedding planning, business building, backyard reno-ing and making a point to enjoy life as much as possible here in SLC. We've been lucky to have my mom & dad not too far away in Big Sky, and so many great friends that we've been making out here.
We spend a lot of time talking about our future, the lives we want to live and the future we want to build together, and I couldn't imagine doing it anywhere else with anyone else.
Here's to a year for the books, and a celebration we've all been waiting for for a VERY long time.
If you have stories about Sam & I that you would like to share, please feel free to put them in the guest book section. We could only share so much here in stories, but we know there are so many more to share from you all!