Every love story has a beginning, and ours was set into motion with a swipe of a finger, a quiet invitation to fate. Beginnings are rarely what we imagine, and ours was no exception. We stumbled into each other on what might have been the worst date in recorded history—chaotic, unpolished, hilariously doomed by all conventional measures- thank you, mom.

And yet, somehow, it was perfect. Unexpectedly, we found ourselves driving through the night on the hunt for Wiley's incredibly designed sidewalks– with Abel, my dog, in the backseat. He was already falling in love with Wiley. Our hours were filled with conversations, drifting in and out of topics, the kind of conversations that you don’t plan, but just happen to find. It felt easy in a way that surprised me, even though we barely knew each other. From that night, something permanent settled between us– first a friendship born of mutual recognition, then a love born of kindredness.

We found ourselves laughing at the same things, finding the same kind of tranquility in the chaos of life. There was music, the simple solace of the beach, and the pleasure of losing ourselves in books. We exchanged novels like letters, marking our conversations with the kind of earnestness that comes from finding someone whose thoughts feel like home.

There had been a quiet shift in the friendship we had been nurturing, almost without us noticing, into something greater. The beach would witness two of the most important firsts of ours; the fated first date, and our first day as official partners. With every anniversary spent there since.

In almost no time at all, in the coziness of the Hendrix mountain house, beside a fire crackling in the quiet, he knelt to one knee. It wasn’t the proposal he’d planned–not even close–but that seemed to suit us perfectly. A quiet, full-circle moment.

Now, as we prepare for our future, we’re not just looking forward to a full life together–we’re eager to build it, slowly and with intention. Not just with the books we collect but with moments–those quiet, almost forgettable mundane ones that you only recognize later, when you look back and realize just how much they meant. We’re excited to continue discovering each other, to keep finding new layers of this amazing thing we’ve built with one another.

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