Once upon a time, there was a girl named Valerie working through her Nursing degree at the University of Ottawa. She lived with her four roommates at Clegg Street Manor. In the summer before her third year, the girls of Clegg Street Manor were looking for a sixth roommate to take the coveted room in the basement. One of the girls had a colleague at her part-time job with Bowering who had a son looking for a room to rent. After a viewing of Clegg Street Manor, and a few conversations amongst the girls about letting a boy move in, the sixth roommate was found. The girls met this boy one day, while Valerie was at work. When she came home, the girls couldn't stop gushing about how beautiful he was. "He's tall, dark, and handsome....but blonde!" All of this talk about how beautiful he was... Valerie thought they were just being dramatic. Then one day while the girls were getting ready for a night out, the new roommate came by the house to show his friend his new digs. As Valerie stepped out of her room to meet this highly talked about new roommate, she saw this golden-haired....tall....drink of water! The girls hadn't been dramatic at all. They were right. He was tall, handsome, and bright. In came Andrew.

The girls had a meeting before Andrew officially moved in, to discuss the terms of the shared dwelling. The main take-away: Absolutely no one can date him. Valerie thought "No problem!" Through the months of first semester that year, Valerie and Andrew would form a friendly bond, chatting about music and dreams of travel and adventure. Valerie would quickly start making any excuse to go to the basement to see what Andrew was up to. Valerie would go as far as washing two pairs of socks and the kitchen hand towels, or look for a roll of toilet paper or dish soap in the storage room, just to catch a glimpse of the boy downstairs. Come second semester, the friendship had become a mutual crush. It became very obvious that it was more than just a friendship when one night Valerie ran from Union Station on Elgin Street to Mercury Lounge in the Byward Market at 11pm to meet Andrew and his friends, under the guise of "sharing a cab home". Then the fateful April Fools house party at Clegg Street Manor. Andrew was playing DJ and drink mixer, Valerie was enjoying both and playing cool roommate-turned-friend. A few rum and Cokes and a couple of flirty smiles later... they shared their first kiss. Not wanting to upset the roommates, Andrew and Valerie kept their blossoming relationship a secret for as long as they could. Eventually their relationship came out, and Andrew had to find a new place to live. From then on, Andrew and Valerie were it. That summer they both enjoyed separate trips to Europe and dove head-first into their new found love. Over the following years together, Andrew and Valerie would enjoy many adventures. From finishing their respective university degrees, moving to Yellowknife for their Northern adventure, and enjoying travels to Newfoundland, Hawaii, B.C, and Mongolia. They even managed to survive Andrew's stint in Novosibirsk, Russia. It is apparent that these two are meant to be.

After 7 years together, on May 19th 2019, he finally did it. At the peak of the Enderby Cliffs outside of Vernon B.C, while sitting together viewing the landscape below, Andrew placed a ring on Valerie's finger and proclaimed "We should get married." As you all know, it was no question whether or not she would say "Yes." A seemingly simple story about two roommates, turned into a budding friendship, and then into a beautiful love story. Here's to our friendship, our love, and marriage.