We were coworkers, We knew of each other but never really talked. Matthew swears that our first conversation went a little something like this: M: “hey! How was your weekend.” T: whizzes by Matthew without a word. M: ... Tara has no recollection of this and denies this ever took place. Months later, Matthew was no longer working for the company but was invited to go out with some old coworkers. Elliott’s Downtown: Tara walked in with friends, sat down and in walked Matthew. Tara was immediately taken aback by how handsome he looked in his Star Wars shirt and blue cardigan. Matthew was immediately drawn to her long golden locks and sarcastic wit. In fact, that’s how they bonded that night. Matthew and Tara separated from the group and spent the whole night discussing anything and everything. Matthew offered to take Tara back to her car and casually asked Tara, “are you going to be out tomorrow- because you should be.” Tara was smitten and after getting to know Matthew for four years, realized he’s nowhere near as cool as he came across that first night. Tara did what any smitten girl would do driving home that night- scream sang to Taylor Swift-obviously! We spent the whole summer splashing around the pool and falling in love. We moved into a tiny studio apartment with our dog Kobe and later, a cat found us and we found a mastiff. Our tiny studio apartment, on the 3rd floor, was quickly becoming way too crowded so we upgraded then upgraded again. We’ve had jobs we’ve hated and jobs we’ve loved- Months when we were making great money and taking great vacations and months when we didn’t think we would be able to pay our bills. Through it all, we learned to lean on each other through the good times and the bad, we learned to support each other, we learned to communicate with each other, and we became a team. We found love, strength, and compassion in each other and four years after that first night in Elliott’s, Matthew asked Tara to be his wife.