We met while working at the Saint Louis Art Museum as gallery attendants. For a certain period of time, we were put on the same or corresponding rotations. Justin was really shy but really sweet, and opened up to me pretty much right away. With the slow pace of the days at work, we found ourselves spending entire shifts more or less talking about everything under the sun; I started to look forward and anticipate being scheduled on post with him. One day in the breakroom at work, he invited me to go to Gooseberries for pizza. Now comes the most contested part of the story: in my opinion, it really wasn't clear if it was a date (just the two of us) or a group outing (you can ask our friend Ian for his side of the story!) but when I got there it ended up just being the two of us. Over pizza, sitting across from Justin, I really did see him in a new light that day. From that day forward, we started hanging out all of the time, going to cat cafés, restaurants, art exhibits, you name it–and it became extremely clear we were very much each other's person. Then, merely months after we got together, I was accepted to go to Granville, France to teach English for a year. This had been a long term dream of mine, but the distance was both difficult and worth it. Justin even came to visit for a month, and those weeks we spent frolicking along the coast and traveling are some of the most cherished of my life. - Laine