glad you're here

One chilly October night (Saturday, October 16* to be exact), we met at a quaint Chicago speakeasy bar known as Blind Barber. I, Andrea, was out with my girlfriends Kim and Carly, and Brian was out celebrating his friend Rod's birthday. A few drinks later, I brazenly approached Brian while he was sitting in the corner of the booth. He was chatting with his friends and minding his own business, which is huge green flag bar behavior if we're being honest. Neither of us remember exactly what my killer opening line was, but clearly it was enough to land us snuggled up in that booth, yelling in each other's ears over the loud DJ about our many shared interests. He showed me his masterfully curated Spotify playlists, regaled me with his enthusiasm for his work, his endless projects and his many hobbies, and I probably just burped in his face. Long story short, we exchanged numbers. He said he was going to stay in touch and take me out on a a proper date. I was pretty skeptical that this smart, funny, handsome, tall, employed man was going to keep his promise and not ghost me. But if you know Brian, you know that he is 100% a man of his word. We went on a our first date a few weeks later, and it hasn't stopped getting better since. *Technically it was past midnight when we met, so it was really October 17th. The only reason I know this is because Kim considers Eminem's birthday a national holiday, so I was "forced" into taking a Slim Shady birthday shot at midnight that night. So cheers to Marshall Mathers, to Rod, to Kim & Carly, to chance meetings, to love, to Blind Barber. But most importantly, cheers to us.