We’re getting married!

Katie's Version. See below. :)

After graduating with our Bachelor's (in totally different worlds and specialties) in 2021, Janene and I both started working at the children's pediatric psychiatric and behavioral health hospital. It was one year after Covid-19 had changed our worlds forever, and it had impacted youth hard. Masking was still mandated, and ordering N95's and PPE was one of the first things I learned on the job. We can both agree that nothing can compare to the hardships of patient care during that year - adolescents in need of stability when the world was anything but. At 22 years old, we entered the world of "real adulthood" and faced isolation and quick burnout from our high-stress emergency-style workplace. After starting the job that summer, I think I had recognized that Janene existed by that December, right as she began to come out of her shell at work. She often talks about the first time she needed to call me on Vocera, asking the room around her who "Katerina Agrotis" was and how exactly to even pronounce that. Sometime in December, Janene became the hype-man of the unit, and was probably the reason I felt like I could continue working there. I was the unit coordinator, living my shifts within a glass-box office, helping patients connect with the "outside" world on the phone, and answering calls from anyone with questions or emergencies. I remember one day she stopped by my window to tell me there was chocolate in the break room, and she came back with different types, hoping she had guessed what I might like the best. After that, my shifts were filled with "you're doing a great job" and continued positivity as she passed by my office. It was noticeable that she treated everyone else with the same kindness, and the people around me began to know the silly side of Janene that can break the ice of any stale moment. We were coworkers, and that's all I knew of her. In March, I found out her birthday was coming up, and I showed up to work with a chocolate chip Crumble cookie and a "Happy Birthday" written on the box. She was surprised and excited that somebody had thought of her, and this is where our friendship began.

In the months to come, our work friendship continued. I distinctly remember Janene coming into my office mid-shift just to have a quick scream and continue on with her day. In the gen-Z generation, I am convinced that trauma bonding is the only way to form a friendship. She also spent her downtime sitting on the Shred-It bin in my office, talking about who-knows what and getting to know the role of my job more as I similarly learned more about hers. One day, she stood in the doorway, bursting with awkward, and said, "Can I ask you a personal question?" With my permission, she said, "Are you..." and then flicked her hand. If you're not queer here, this is the part where I tell you that a hand flick in the young queer community at the time had come to represent "gay." As if my undercut was not enough of a give-away, I told her I was, and repeated back the question. Two young gays had found each other. And our friendship continued.

This is the part where I wanted an outside-of-work friend, and unbeknownst to me, Janene wanted more. As I got to know Janene more at work, I realized that I wanted her to be a new friend to hang out with outside of work. Naturally, we spent some extra time chatting after our shifts were done, but listen to this - I finally ask her if she wants to do something outside of work, and she says…no!? Are you kidding me? Okay, is she too busy? She doesn’t actually like hanging out with me? Some of these questions go through my head, and some of them I actually direct at her. But her response?? You guys. She said, "We can't be friends." And that's all I got. I went to bed that night wondering why someone so kind, funny, and comfortable to be around wouldn't be my friend. ...And I can only imagine she went to bed thinking about how annoying it was that the girl she liked wanted to hang out just as friends.

After driving Janene a bit nuts, I managed to get it in her calendar that we would be going to brunch on April 22nd, 2022. She chose First Watch in Westerville, and afterwards, she took me to Hoover Dam in the area. To me, this was just our first time hanging out, but looking back, it's a special day for us, although not technically our first date. The next couple weeks were a whirlwind, but on May 4th, we went out again (it happened to be another First Watch for breakfast) and that became our official anniversary date.

So, if you give a mouse (Janene) a cookie, she actually somehow might not want to be friends with you? But anyways, I gave Janene a cookie, and... A lot has happened since May 4th, 2022. I will spare you every single detail, as much as I would love to share. In June, this girl I was just barely getting to know told me that I should plan the birthday trip, and helped me book my first ever Airbnb and joined me on a trip to Indianapolis. As the great listener that she is, she remembered the time I told her I loved Ben Platt and surprised me for my birthday with tickets to see him that fall. I asked her to be my girlfriend in mid-July, and since then, we have taken many trips. Our first year together included Nashville, and our second included Newport, KY, Destin, FL, Philadelphia, PA, Washington, D.C., a couple places in Virginia, a trip to see her sister in Michigan, and Hocking Hills. In our third year together (2024) we took a trip to Colorado (Denver, Boulder, Estes Park, Colorado Springs), where she proposed to me at Rocky Mountain National Park. I proposed back to her in December. The following summer, she joined me on a trip home to Cyprus to meet my family and learn more about where I spent time growing up. We also took a quick stop to see Vienna. This past year, we visited Seattle and Portland, and continued our love of hiking with a trip up to Mount Rainier National Park. I have found my favorite travel buddy, my best friend, and someone who has been there with me through hardships and successes. Asking Janene to marry me was one of the best moments in my life so far, and I am so grateful that she has agreed to spend all of our future years together.

Our wedding date is no coincidence. As we were initially getting to know each other at work, Janene and I found out we share the same favorite number - 17. Then, as we were planning our first trip together to Indianapolis for my birthday, a number popped into my head. At the same time, Janene said, “What number are you thinking of?” And together, we both said, “27.” We have no idea the significance of this or what stars aligned to create this moment but from then on we have been waiting to find out what 27 would mean to us. For now, it means that we will be getting married when we are both 27 years old. And we have forever loved the month of October, so how perfect is it that October 17th falls on a Saturday, 17 is our favorite number, and 10 plus 17 equals 27. We hope that you can join us on our special day, it is meaningful in more ways than one.