Let’s take a journey into the past to experience the romantic comedy that is Christopher and Amanda’s relationship.

The year was 2018, the place was Fire Island, New York. On the 16th of June, 2018, Amanda Rae Jayne and Captain Christopher Robert Hedger thought they were attending a mutual friend’s birthday party, but little did they know their lives would change that night for the better. After a nice firm handshake, the two clicked instantly. They spent the entire night dancing, talking, laughing, and trying to stay warm on the ferry ride home. After a wonderful night of getting to know each other, Amanda decided to drive Christopher and his younger sister Julie Ann Marie Hedger home to their parents’ house. A ride that shared more laughs, more jokes, and a deer jumping across the street to make sure everyone was paying attention to what was happening on the road in front of them. It was a thoughtful end to a perfect night. For those of you who know this story, you know that in June of 2018 Christopher was living in Appleton, Wisconsin, traveling all across the county almost weekly. Amanda was still living in Hauppauge, New York in the comfort of her parents’ home. The geography was not in their favor.

On the 18th of June, 2018, Christopher found himself in Escanaba, Michigan onsite working with a client. Later that night, he finds himself thinking about the perfect girl named Amanda Rae Jayne once again. He picks up his phone and instead of opening up Pokémon Go, he decides to put it all on the line and share their first text, which reads, “I can’t stop thinking about how crazy your dance moves are. I can’t believe there is a fellow arm-flailing dancer out there.” Since that first text, they have not gone a single day without talking to each other.

After weeks of Google Duo (Facetime for non-iPhone users) calls, phone calls, and texts every day, Christopher finally makes a visit back to his family in St. James, New York. With this the two encounter their first “official” date. Let’s set the scene. Reminder! Christopher still lives in Wisconsin, and has zero sense of style. Wearing the shirt and pants of his father, Paul Harold Hedger, and the socks and shoes of his brother, Gregory Paul Hedger, that his mother Eileen Marie Hedger picked out, he drove to pick up Amanda in Gregory’s Honda Civic. The date starts with Christopher frantically trying to find a park that he visited only one time 15 years ago. After half an hour of driving around, and after Amanda got serial killer vibes, he gave up and found a spot in Port Jefferson. The two sat on a bench looking over the water and talking for what felt like seconds. The next stop was Short Beach in Nissequogue, New York. After a romantic walk on the beach, the two grew hungry from talking and laughing. They decided to go to Del Fuego in St. James, New York for dinner. The mutual love of nachos began on this very night. As the night came to an end, it was time to bring Amanda home. As Christopher opened the door to let Amanda out of the car, what started as a hug led into their very first kiss. This was the perfect ending to what would end up being their last first date ever.

A few weeks later, Amanda received a letter in her mailbox and this time, it was addressed to her! She opened the envelope to find a note from Christopher which read, “I can already tell that we are going to play big roles in each others lives,” and in it, a key. The two officially became boyfriend and girlfriend on the 15th of August, 2018. To combat the long distance, Amanda and Christopher planned trips to meet each other every few weeks in a variety of locations. They visited the romance capital of the world, Hartford, Connecticut. Christopher even persuaded Amanda to visit Appleton, Wisconsin, a trip where a lot of cheese was eaten. After a few months of distance, Christopher realized that he wanted to build his life with Amanda in New York, and moved back to the luxurious, grandiose, maximum-headroom basement apartment of 88 Sunny Road in December of 2018.

The life Christopher and Amanda built together consisted of Wednesday Workouts (featuring Gregory and household appliances that turned into weightlifting apparatuses), weekends on the boat (where Christopher would waterski and Amanda would sit there and watch), long walks (in parks they were mostly sure existed), dodging COVID-19 (and playing a lot of Animal Crossing ), Turkey Trots (where Christopher would leave Amanda in the dust), collecting keys (even though Amanda never found out the answer to the first key that she was given), telling stories and laughing (with Lauren Violet Duca and Robert James Duca), and demolishing pizzas at Sal’s (featuring Laura Jayne, John Lawrence Jayne, Alyson Marie Jayne, and Charlotte Marie “Gma” Jayne).

In 2021, Christopher and Amanda wanted to move in together, so, naturally, Christopher and Gregory started looking for a house together. In July of that year, the adult frat house known as 15 Cedar Bay was born, with Amanda being the first tenant. Living together was the test Amanda and Christopher needed in order to see if they were truly meant to be, or if their annoying quirks, of which there are many, would drive them apart. After a year of establishing their home, the pair decided that it was time to solidify their relationship for the rest of their lives.

The time had finally come to execute the plan that Christopher set into motion 4 years ago: their engagement. Remember the key that Christopher had sent all those years ago? It was finally time to get an answer as to what its purpose truly was. On the 25th of November, 2022, the day began with a workout at Orangetheory Fitness, Stony Brook, New York. From there the two had a wonderful breakfast at Brownstone’s Coffee in Centereach, New York, to put back on the calories that they fought so hard to burn off. Next, Christopher’s plan was to have the pair place locks in two different areas: one in Bay Shore, New York, on a fence that the two walked past on the first night that they met, and other in Heckscher State Park in Islip, New York. Heckscher Park is where Christopher had buried a treasure chest that contained the engagement ring that Amanda had picked out, and a script that he would read to her asking her to marry him. After securing the lock to a fence in Heckscher Park, the two had planed to throw the keys, to the two locks, into the Great South Bay, across from the spot on Fire Island, New York, where they had first met. Christopher then navigated Amanda up the shore to where he had hid the treasure chest. His heart was racing, his knees were shaking. Everything had gone according to his plan, but there was one thing he did not plan for: how does Christopher induce Amanda to dig the chest up? Thinking quick on his feet, he looked at Amanda and told her to “just dig.” They both laughed as Amanda uncovers the locked chest, finding the key in her pocket. This key is the exact one that Christopher gave to her all those years ago. She opened the chest and the final mystery of their dating life had finally been answered. “What does the key open?” The answer? The life that they are going to build together.

We are so proud of you - the reader - for making it to the end of this story! As a treat, here’s where the name Achrisda comes from. Chris is the only man Amanda needs. If you take out the “man” in Amanda’s name and substitute it with “Chris,” you get “Achrisda.” Fun fact!