Vera Wang

Ruth Marie Wenzel and Sean Shariff Fisher

Once upon a November night in 2016 SSG Sean Fisher, who I swiped right on, convinced me to meet him at a local spot, in Philadelphia. As I helped myself to his fried shrimp, which he reluctantly shared, I felt something different. I didn't want the night to end. In fact, it didn't really end. We stayed on the phone after we shut the bar down and he drove 40 minutes to bring me breakfast at 5am.

Sean is a 16 year infantryman and combat veteran, of the NJ Army National Guard. He's been deployed four times. He currently trains soldiers who are preparing for upcoming deployment. He's made years of sacrifices to serve this country. I'm a social worker and currently run an adolescent mental health program. We have challenging careers which demand a lot from the both of us. It is through our unyielding love, our childish spirits, endless laughs and wild adventures that allow us to support each other in our demanding public service positions.

In April 2018, Sean was severely burned during a training mission. He spent a week in ICU. It was the scariest time of our lives. I refused to leave his side. One night, I jammed myself in his hospital bed it clicked; this was the person I was going to spend my life with; for sure this is what 'through sickness and health' looks like. Lord knows if he could tolerate me while he was held captive in a hospital room for days, he could surely tolerate me for a lifetime, Right? Maybe that was the pain killers? We quickly learned what it meant to be 'in good times and bad' and 'richer or poorer.'

We took financial hit after hit. This warrior was bed ridden. That took a real emotional toll on him. I tried to do everything I could to
boost his spirits which included beating him relentlessly at Backgammon. Okay, maybe that just lifted mine. It was during these weeks that we fell in love, over and over.

More About Ruth Marie & Sean

This was for sure the beginning of our happily ever after. Sean proposed in our kitchen. At first that sounds boring, right, but it was the most romantic. He was annoying me while I was on an important call and when I turned around, he was on one knee asking if he could annoy me for the rest of our lives. He later told me he had a whole plan for a public proposal with our family and children, but bought the ring that day, and there was no way he could hold on to it.

We want the Vera Wang experience because the recovery has been long and hard. We're public servants and earn just enough to take care of our 3 children. Sean, who so selflessly has given of himself to our country, and sacrificed so much along the way, deserves a good thing to happen to him; because sometimes good things DO need to happen to good people.