When I met Adé for the first time, I remember being struck with how bright and genuine her smile was. Like usual, she was squinting from smiling so hard and I was immediately infatuated. Determined to play it cool, I tried everything I could to avoid her. My efforts were short-lived as I showed up to my first class and realized there were only seven students, one of whom was Adé. I sat in the furthest seat from her, about 4 feet away. Throughout that first year, Adé showed me what true friendship meant. Through heated debates, she opened my mind to new ways of thinking and reveled in the moments when I finally capitulated and admitted that she may have some good points. She forced me to eat disgusting foods and expanded my palette in the process. Unfortunately, after three years of friendship, I had to break the devastating news to her that - due to unforeseen circumstances - I had accidentally fallen deeply in love with her and I could no longer keep it to myself; I had to see if she felt what I was feeling! Adé politely said "thank you" and let me down gently... but I still had hope. A few months later Adé found herself wanting to kiss me while we were on tour in London and thus, years of friendship culminated in our first kiss in Chinatown. I knew in that moment what I had known for so long, Adé would be my wife.

My first memories of meeting Henry are a little blurred, but I do remember thinking he was hilarious. The moment I realized he was my best friend came during second semester of freshman year at Curtis, at a small dorm get-together. I had not-so-gracefully fallen off the counter I was sitting on, and Henry rushed to help me up. It was such a small, fleeting moment, but I realized I almost expected him to be there because he always was. Always looking out for me, always showing up, always being the kind of friend everyone hopes to have. Our friendship grew effortlessly and quickly. We explored every corner of Philly together, stayed up all night having heated debates about everything, navigated other relationships and helped each other survive the intensity of conservatory life. He quickly became my absolute favorite person to be around, and I truly believed he was the funniest person I’d ever met. Fast forward a few years—Henry came over to my apartment one night, spent TWO FULL HOURS pacing my room like he was about to deliver catastrophic news, and finally blurted out that he’d accidentally developed feelings for me…after years of insisting I wasn’t his type. Given this, I was quite shocked, and also not ready for anything new, so I decided that we should just stay friends. A few months later, we were in London on tour, wandering the city on a night off and having the best time as usual, and it felt natural to go in for a kiss. We’ve now been together for 8.5 years, traveled the world, gone on countless road trips, lived in five cities, and built a life full of laughter (heavy on the laughter) and adventure. Last October, Henry took us back to the exact spot in London where we had our first kiss, in front of a bar call Waxy’s Little Sister in Chinatown, and proposed. Easiest yes ever.