Chris and Gabby knew each other as sproutlings, having attended the same church since middle school. Through high school, they engaged in awkward conversation about Bob Ross, personality types, and music, but they had a hard time getting past the defensive barrier of familiarity. It wasn’t until the summer of 2021 that Chris and Gabby began to see they had more in common than they’d realized; on a group trip to see a NYC Van Gogh exhibit, the pair found themselves caught up in an artistic analysis that unveiled a shared attention to detail and symbolism. That night, by chance, the two became embroiled in The Fateful Conversation, which marked the exchange of vulnerable confessions and an honest searching of souls. Chris and Gabby stayed up ‘til early morning, finding themselves affected beyond return by their experience together. Thus began a trend that lasted through the following year of friendship; endless hours spent poking and prodding each other’s mind whether beneath the stars on the tennis courts in Hecksher park, on the beach jumping rocks, or over FaceTime. Chris and Gabby became inseparable, and soon after Chris’ 21st birthday the inevitable question arose: What are we going to do? Everyone had wondered at one point or another whether the two viewed each other as more than friends, but they denied it; what they had was unique, irreplaceable, and no one could put a label on it. Gabby started to worry that perhaps they’d gotten too close for friends. What would happen if one of them found a love interest? The late night laughs and early morning walks would dissolve and they’d end back on the territory of that old villain, familiarity. In an effort to spare them heartbreak, she proposed they “break up” as friends. Chris was reluctant to agree, and a period of uncertainty ensued. During this time, Chris and Gabby reached out to friends and witnesses to their madness in hopes of finding the perfect solution; Gabby received one piece of advice in particular that softened her heart—advice to go, watch the sunset with him, appreciate what you have together and let the future take care of itself. That’s exactly what she did; they decided that they wanted each other’s company more than any other assurance in the world. An intervention by a very dear friend (and now-bridesmaid!) in which she insisted to Chris that he was simply in love with Gabby, led to a phone call between the best friends. During this call, they discussed all the reasons why they would work well as a couple and Gabby concluded that they weren’t together for the sole reason that they were both choosing not to be. Chris was thrown off by this; if there was essentially nothing holding them back from dating, what were they even waiting for? Gabby couldn’t logically protest the sense of that decision, so there they entered into an agreement to date with the goal of one day getting married. Neither of them could imagine life without the other, nor wanted to, and it was obvious they must spend the rest of their lives together. Chris and Gabby solidified their decision on May 4th of 2022 on a park bench in Northport Village, as awkwardly as one can expect, knowing them. At this same park bench two years later on July 10th, Chris proposed to Gabby (just as awkwardly!). Of course, she said yes; she loved him so much she repeated it a few times, just to make sure he knew.