Inextricably, incredibly, and against all odds, Abby and Brock met online in January, 2018. Their first face to face meeting was at a small café called the Parsonage which is the term for the small residence that is provided for a member of clergy. He’d recognized her from her short blonde hair and large glasses as she did him from his red hair and moustache. A casual observer of this encounter might’ve noted at the comfort the two shared in conversation, the way she watched his eyes when they flitted away from making contact with hers. They’d tell you about the awkward pauses when he’d run out of things to say. Then, as the café was shutting down for the evening, he walked her home. Years later, she’d come to visit him in England after he’d left to pursue a writing degree. They spent winter break together soaking their spirits in mulled wine and their clothes in the deluge of English rainfall. Then she took him north, to the wet streets of Edinburgh. Together they walked, hand-in-hand through the labyrinthine streets of the city. They stopped at a Christmas market, framed by the backdrop of a canal painted by the colourful lights decorated nearby. He told her that she was his favourite person, something he only said when he knew he was deeply in love. Those versed in love prefer to know it through metaphor, through magnetic connections or sparking matches. The metaphors provide context to some encompassing grouping of things that bring two people together. We could say that Abby and Brock’s shared love of literature mixed with the schism of her patterns of organization against his calm fly-by-night way of seeing things were the eye of newt and pinch of salt needed to concoct this love into marriage. However, to do so would leave out all the pretty little things that station themselves in the orbit of their love. If you’re reading this then they’ve invited you to be a part of that orbit, to celebrate with them, to be a part of their story. Inextricably, incredibly, and against all odds, Abby and Brock will start a life together on July 4, 2026.