To paraphrase "When Harry Met Sally," first they were friends. Then they fell in love. 

Gabrielle and Mike's love story began the way so many New England love stories do: with baseball. 

In the spring of 2018, Mike, then an employee of the Boston Red Sox, began following Gabrielle, then an aspiring sportswriter living in Los Angeles, on Twitter. What began as playful baseball banter blossomed into an immediate friendship when they met at Fenway Park later that summer. 

 

Over the next year, they bonded over the Red Sox winning the World Series, and their shared affinities, including Italian food, stand-up comedy and travel. Unbeknownst to each other, both were developing deeper feelings, but the timing never seemed to line up, and they worried about ruining the friendship by making the first move. In fact, Mike was so respectful, Gabrielle had no idea her crush was mutual! (Even as they jokingly began calling each other as ‘Husband’ and ‘Wife.’) 

 

Finally, after moving back to Boston in the summer of 2019, Gabrielle decided to lay her cards on the table. Hours after they had watched a particularly vicious Fenway Friday thrashing of the New York Yankees, the ultimate aphrodisiac for two Red Sox fans, she texted Mike. 

 

“You know, many men would’ve kissed a girl after that third mookie bomb,” she wrote, referring to Mookie Betts’ three home runs that night. 

 

“You know, I really strongly considered doing that…to be completely serious,” Mike replied with feigned nonchalance.

 

Two nights later, they were back at Fenway. As the ballpark emptied after the game, they shared their first kiss and never looked back. Through a global pandemic, a war, career changes, five moves, and becoming parents to the best dog in the world, Gabrielle and Mike were embodying ‘for better, for worse’ and ‘in sickness and in health’ long before he got down on one knee and asked if she wanted to make those ‘Husband’ and ‘Wife’ nicknames the real thing.