Sometimes a bar is just a bar, a night out is just another hangover, and the routine of life makes most days feel like just another day. But not always. Some days we accidentally start entirely new chapters of our lives. Sometimes a seemingly casual decision like deciding to go to a Pool Hall can unfold ripples of change that reshape a life forever. So on a frigid September night on 1st Avenue in Downtown Seattle, there was no indication that the direction of two lives were to be forever altered by a chance encounter. I remember standing at the bar trying to perfect the subtle art of attracting attention by standing still and looking cool. I did this by casually sipping on a beer while looking completely uninterested in the world. Not the most effective way to attract someone, but my introvert nature often gets best of me. Amy was on the dance floor completely unaffected by the cool guy vibes I was attempting to evoke. Ultimately it would take 3 more chance encounters in as many days for us to officially meet. The 2nd time I saw her she was alone at a table while our mutual group of friends were scattered about. I sat down next to her and before I could take a breath to introduce myself she was gone. A few months later Amy gave me her version of that night, which amounted to her feeling like I wanted that space and I probably preferred it if she got up and left so she was being polite regarding my unspoken request. Amy and I have reminisced and laughed about those initial encounters and how differently we experience them. It was the night before I was scheduled to return home when our paths would cross for a 3rd time. Some would call that fate, or destiny manifest, but I like to think of us as magnets. A strange analogy if you consider the fact that magnets repel each other if they aren’t aligned just right and that’s exactly what happened the first couple nights. But with a little bit of luck and a few serendipitous events, we found a way. This time was different, we actually spoke and that was all it took. It was the easiest -get to know you- conversation I have ever had. I can’t recall exactly what we talked about, or what topics we discussed, but it wasn’t about that because even tho we had just officially met it was like spending time with a kindred spirit or an old friend. Neither of us knew it at the time, but it was the accidental date of a lifetime. That night we began to write the beginning to a profound new chapter in our lives. The insurrection to the next 11 years that lead us all the way here. The in between years have given us a lot of laughter and some tears, they taught us the value of dedication and the meaning of unmeasured support, but most of all those years gave us time. Time to grow and adapt, to celebrate triumphs and rise above failures. It reminds me of a quote I read by an author I’ve long since forgotten, but it said -time can only be given once for it is a commodity we can never get more of making time the most precious of gifts- For Amy and I that’s exactly what this engagement represents. It’s the promise of time and our conviction in the foundation we have built. The future will inevitably have its challenges and we have no doubt there are more lessons to learn, but we will choose to endure as we always have. There is a Jack Johnson song on a CD that has been in either Amy’s car or mine over the years. It’s the only CD we still own and on it there is a song that I played for her years ago when there was no way of knowing the weight of the lyrics and what they mean to us today, it says -Love is the answer at least for most of the questions in my heart, like why are we here, where do we go, and how come it’s so hard. It’s not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving, but I’ll tell you one thing it’s better together, it’s always better together-.