We never expected our lives to change on a cold Baltimore day in January. After a visit to a local museum, Eric’s friend Patrick called to see if he could stop by for a drink, “Oh, and I have a friend with me.” Eric opened a bottle of wine excited to catch up with his friend, but he had no idea he would be meeting his future husband. A couple weeks after meeting Brandon, Eric rode the train to New York City to spend a long weekend with him. We didn’t want the weekend to end, and to our surprise, Brandon was asked to interview for a job outside of Washington, DC a few days later. After the interview, we walked through Eric’s favorite neighborhood and found ourselves on a quaint tree-lined street. A white stucco house with a gorgeous yard caught our eye, and we live there today with our two cats.

On a trip to one of our favorite places, Charlottesville, Virginia; we did our all our favorite things: kayaking, hiking, eating, wine tasting, and finding new spots. Little did Eric know that Brandon had planned a number of different places as options for a proposal. On Friday evening, we went to dinner at the Palladio Restaurant at Barboursville Vineyards. Brandon asked Eric if he wanted to see the garden on the property, but he had no idea that Eric was starving - so Eric said, nope - it is a meadow of native plants and flowers - been there done that, let's eat! While at dinner, Brandon thought the romantic setting would be a perfect opportunity, but then a family seated next to us killed the mood. Alas, Brandon, not wanting to wait another day, had to find one more potential spot. We went to the ruins located on the property for a romantic promenade. To our surprise, the ruins were closed after dark - but thankfully Eric got distracted by the moon and the lightning bugs fluttering all around. All of the sudden, Brandon was on his knee and asking Eric to marry him. Then Brandon started to read a beautiful letter he wrote describing our lives together as a metaphor for a garden of love - one we still tend to.