We met mermaiding in Florida's springs! It was months before we had any idea that there might be romantic feelings there, but we knew immedietly that we were meant to be in each other's lives in some way and became fast friends. Casper began realizing that he migggghhhtt (AHHH) have a crush on Cecíl a number of months later when he ran into a near-stranger on a trip to the other side of the country who just happened to be Cecíl's ex...and after a short conversation, told Casper that he would be PERFECT with Cecíl. So the story goes that Casper panicked over this information for many months while Cecíl was blissfully oblivious. Cecíl recruited Casper to teach swim lessons at the same company in NY over the summer -- where they would live in the same house and be contractually obligated not to date. We both held to the letter of the contract fiercely...but the tension was high! As soon as we were able to date publicly, we did! Even though Cecíl moved to the Florida Keys for their internship and Casper back to Georgia for his PhD, we drove the 14 hours to see each other five time in those first four months. In December, Cecíl got an offer to take a lead intern position in Key West, but was expecting to have to turn it down due to housing costs. We already knew that we wanted to live together, and Casper essentially shrugged and said "I can do research in Key West, let's make it happen!" After spending the holidays in New York with Cecíl's family, we moved in together in Key West and had an AMAZING four months there, finishing out Cecíl's internship term. We elected to spend the six week interim between our semester ending and our summer job starting to take a beautiful cross-country road trip. We stopped into Arches, Basin, Olympic, and Channel Islands national parks. We volunteered at the California Mermaid Convention, went wine tasting in northern California, and drove up the Pacific Coast Highway. After that, we returned to NY to teach swim for the summer!
We moved to Georgia together and got engaged <3. Casper's parents flew down to help us paint our new apartment, and we've been steadily piecing together a home ever since. Casper is working on finishing up his PhD here, and Cecíl has just started classes to complete their associates towards a marine bio degree! In November, we elected to move our plans for a 2026 wedding up in order to have a bit more peace of mind knowing our little family had what legal protections we are able to. With six weeks to the holidays and our chosen winter solstice date, we began planning an intimate elopement on the shores of the Pacific. On a breezy shortest day of the year, we exchanged handwritten vows in front of a campfire with the ocean at our backs. We danced and laughed and read and played and sang. We celebrated our love and made the day special, even if it wasn't exactly what we had imagined our wedding day would be. We are looking forward to a honeymoon when we can afford it and to celebrating in bigger ways with all our loved ones in the coming years, with a little reception tour (in Ireland to start)!