‘Til Death

Tara and Ben met at a holiday party, hosted by the Hawthorne Theater in early January 2016. Both attending as guests of Hawthorne Theater employees, neither Ben nor Tara knew many of the people in attendance, save for a few mutual friends. After a blur of new faces and mostly forgettable small talk, Tara and Ben were finally introduced to each other, and immediately struck up a conversation. The topics and content of their discussion may be lost to time, but the two discovered that they loved the same music, and had often attended the same concerts completely unaware of each other’s presence. The electricity that sparked between them during that party was the catalyst that would bring their lives together forever, but their fire was a slow one to start. Weeks went by, jobs and relationships changed, the two saw each other infrequently at social gatherings with mutual friends and acquaintances, but it wouldn’t be until almost four months later that they actually had their first real date, and it would be Tara who initiated the meeting in the first place. Ben, being as coy as he equally was outgoing, played hard to get. Whether by choice or ignorance is often up for debate between the two of them to this day. But Tara knew exactly what she wanted, and with a little patience, and a lot of tenacity, managed to get Ben to agree to their very first date at his neighborhood bar in North East Portland. What began as two strangers bonding over small talk and cheap beer at the Hawthorne, blossomed into two young adults falling head over heels in love, and a promise to share that love for the rest of their lives. Every single detail of their journey led them to that holiday party in 2016. Two people who had unknowingly attended the same shows, held the same friendships, and loved the same city met through sheer coincidence. A coincidence that transformed their lives forever.