Let's pop!

After a weekend at a friend's lake house in Maine, before Claire even knew she liked Peter, she found herself inexplicably upset by his early departure. Upon deeper examination of these feelings, she realized that Peter might be a romantic interest. At a subsequent weekend at a friend's house in Michigan, she explored further and sparks flew akimbo. (By the way, thanks to all our friends for providing the houses where our relationship could blossom). Alas, Peter lived in North Carolina and Claire in New York, and since Peter made it abundantly clear he was NOT interested in a long distance relationship, the two resumed a "romantically-friendly relationship," consisting mostly of traveling to yet more friends' houses to see each other on some weekends. We now lovingly refer to this as "the courting period," which frankly lasted a ridiculous amount of time. Then, a turning point: Peter moved to Boston for work. Claire, OF HER OWN VOLITION AND FOR REASONS THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH PETER, moved to Boston because it is her favorite city in the world. While neither was anticipating that an actual relationship would bud, you can't stop nature. After a few months in the Bean, Peter finally gave into the burning, undeniable desires of his heart and asked Claire if she wanted to "date." Claire was caught totally off guard but simultaneously delighted, even though she didn't really know what that meant (is that the same as "boyfriend/girlfriend"?). The two ultimately settled into a dating rhythm, eventually moved in together, got closer, grew stronger, compromised better, teased more ruthlessly, laughed harder, loved MORE. So on August 18th Peter did the damn thing, got down on his knee, said the magic words, and Claire said YES -- so here we are. Guess which one of us wrote this?!