We did it!!!

Our story begins in much the same way that most stories fail to: crossing paths in a retail shop without ever speaking. Kristen, known to her friends as Cece, was a regular patron of Montrose's longest established occult shop - the same occult shop that Matt has worked at for the last 10 years. As one does when working in customer service, Matt would always offer to help Cece around the shop, and Cece would always decline the offer. And this pattern of detached social propriety continued for several years. This all changed when Cece brought a friend with her to the shop. As Matt helped her friend search for a book, Cece ignored them in favor of perusing for a book herself. As Cece's friend engaged Matt in an extended conversation, Matt dragged Cece into the conversation with an open ended question, and she dove into what quickly became an enthusiastic discussion about the merits & shortfalls of Western Astrology. The two exchanged sarcastic quips, discovered that they both were aspiring writers, and realized they'd enjoyed the conversation far more than either had expected to. After a handful of other meetings and discussions, the two eventually exchanged emails under the guise of reviewing each other's writing, and their friendship continued to grow. Despite the obvious chemistry, it wasn't until 3 years into their friendship that they finally decided to give romance a chance, and they both found out that being together was the easiest thing either of them had done; they both knew this relationship was it for them.

From their first actual conversation, Matt and Cece fostered what would become a deep appreciation for each other's views and opinions. Even before they dated, the two would often springboard ideas off one another and engage in long, drawn-out conversations about anything and everything. In the early stages of their relationship, the two would commonly discuss long-term-relationship topics that aren't typically spoken about until much further down the line: 10 year plan schedule, preferred number of kids, retirement plans, personal feelings towards life-support, etc. Their reasoning was that if there was going to be a "hard no" for any of these questions, they were early enough into the relationship that they would still be able to salvage their friendship. This concern quickly proved unnecessary. Matt and Cece fell into an easy and comforting relationship - one they both knew would eventually lead to marriage. Neither were in too much of a hurry. When COVID-19 took over the world and rocked all of our expectations of normalcy, many people found their relationships falter from the stress and confinement. Matt and Cece found that they relished lockdown, and found their relationship closer than ever after supporting each other through some of the most difficult months of their lives. Little did Cece know, her mother Stacey had been plotting with Matt for several months without any of her family being the wiser. Stacey knew these two were meant to be, and she gifted Matt with Cece's great-grandmother's wedding rings. Matt took the vintage rings to be renewed to their original glory, and he waited. On Matt's 36th birthday, only 4 days after their 3rd anniversary, he approached Cece while she was working-from-home with a satin jewelry bag. Thinking it was a bracelet, Cece opened the bag to find a note. The note read: Joint Taxes? No longer living in Sin? Getting tattoos together in a Tibetan monastery? Better mortgage rates? Well? When Cece finally processed what the note was asking and realized there was a ring inside, she reacted in a way she had not anticipated. She proceeded to laugh and grab Matt to kiss him, entirely forgetting to say "Yes" in her excitement, and now the two are excitedly waiting on the day they finally confirm that they will be together for the rest of their days.