For years, Jackie's friend Casey had told hilarious stories about her friend Tom and their teenage high jinks as counselors at a New Jersey YMCA camp.
So in spring 2007, when Casey invited Jackie to join her and Tom at a Phillies game, Jackie couldn't resist.
"I remember thinking when we were in the parking lot that he was very cute," said Jackie, then a nursing student at the University of Pennsylvania. Tom liked what he saw, too. They had an almost instant rapport.
But although Tom had grown up in Northeast Philadelphia, he was not looking for love in Philly. Since graduating from Drexel University in 2006, he had been working as a financial analyst for Lockheed Martin in Minneapolis. He was only in town briefly to meet his newborn nephew, CJ.
Later that week, Tom and friends met up with Jackie and friends in University City.
Tom's buddy Tim pulled him aside: "Dude. She likes you."
Still, when the groups split to go their separate ways, Tom started walking with his pals. "Dude!" Tim said. "Just go with her!"
He did. "As I spent more time with Jackie, there were sparks flying," Tom said.
Then it was time to go back to Minneapolis.
Sparks flew between their e-mail inboxes.
Their first real date began Nov. 2 at an Old City sushi bar. Casey and Tim also came along. A misunderstanding with the waitress led to an enormous bottle of sake. Tom prodded Jackie into trying the eel.
"That date lasted for three days," Jackie said.
She met all of his Philadelphia friends, visited the camp where Tom and Casey had worked, and met Tom's sister Judy. (Tom's parents, Tom and Ann, now live in Florida.)
Over Thanksgiving, Tom met Jackie's friends; her mother, Karen; her stepfather, Fred; and her father, Cliff.
Despite monthly visits, the long-distance thing was hard. So in February 2008, when Tom told Jackie they needed to talk, her heart was in her throat.
"I asked the boss for a transfer," he told her. "I'm going to move back to Philadelphia."
That July, Tom became a contracts negotiator at Lockheed Martin in Moorestown. Jackie is a cardiac-center nurse at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Tom planned a weekend in Atlantic City for Jackie's 25th birthday in May 2010. Despite the cool weather and Jackie's high heels, Tom insisted they walk to dinner. On the way, he suggested they stop by the water.
