Becoming Broadbridge

Coming home from college for Thanksgiving break, Liz decided to take a day and spend time with her friend at their house. They were going to have a board game party, and as the nerds we were it was everything from Munchkin to Magic the Gathering. As it so happens, Liz's friend decided to invite someone they had met at a game store in town. In walks Peter, bringing with him his MtG deck. Everyone played for a while, and Peter lent Liz his deck, to which she had no idea what card meant what but she played along. Before they left, Liz asked for Peter's number. As they talked, Peter and Liz realized they had birthdays that were very close and wanted to be friends and be a part of each other's birthdays. That didn't happen unfortunately, but they still kept talking. Then, Liz was on a flight to Ireland for her junior year of study abroad, and they were over 3,000 miles apart. That didn't stop them though, as Liz and Peter spent just about every day for almost 5 months talking through Skype, Whatsapp and Messenger. After a while, they decided that when Liz came back they should go on a date! On April 27th, 2016, Liz got off a flight home from Ireland and drove all the way back to Peter's house where they had their first date and haven't looked back since.

As a precursor, Peter and Liz have birthdays that are very close to one another, January 8th and January 11th. This year, 2021 had both their birthdays on Friday and the following Monday. Being COVID, and coming off the stress of the holidays and everything going on, Liz planned a surprise birthday trip to Martha's Vineyard to give them some much needed rest and relaxation. She had planned the hotel, car ferry ticket, a few little extra surprises here or there, and the ability to safely have a great birthday weekend. They traveled a lot, from Aquinnah to Oak Bluffs, taking pictures, walking socially distanced and watching sunsets everyday. That Saturday, Peter and Liz took the ferry over to Chappaquiddick Island, an even smaller and more remote island off Martha's Vineyard. The goal was to explore the Mytoi Japanese serenity gardens, a small location. It was perfect, no one was around for miles, and the garden was so quiet and calm. The pond had even frozen over, and it felt like it was about to snow. They walked from path to path, coming up on a beautiful bridge that span across the pond. They walked over it and looked over the whole scene. Then Peter and Liz looked at each other. Liz thought, "Man, this would be an ideal place to propose, wouldn't it? But he won't do that today." When all of a sudden, Peter looked at Liz and got down on one knee. "No, no way," she exclaimed trying to rationalize what happened. "Liz," Peter said looking up at her, "Will you marry me?" Still in disbelief, Liz asked if it was a joke. He said, "No, but this is a good joke. It makes sense proposing on a bridge, you know? Because you're going to be a BroadBRIDGE." See a picture of the bridge below!