Back in 2022, life couldn’t have felt more stressful. The pandemic was beginning to wind down, but no one could say for sure if it was gone for good. Brian’s job highlighted every spike in the virus. While his line of work benefited from the increased need for nurses, the stress of life was catching up to those same nurses he worked with. As Brian took on the surprise role of therapist for many of the nurses he worked with, he wondered what the future held for him. With his newfound financial freedom, Brian felt more determined than ever to find someone to share his life with. Separately, Beth was also trying to figure out what came next. After spending years abroad, she had settled down in Somerville, MA, where she could be close to family while still having easy access to the city for her dating and social life. Her time back home had been a whirlwind of high-stress work combined with the pressure of keeping up with dating. There was no shortage of men interested in Beth, but every one of them oversold themselves in their dating profiles and then showed their true colors once the date began. This made it easy for her to move on. However, there was one guy she hadn’t decided to meet yet who intrigued her. His profile pictures showed a “run-of-the-mill” guy, but the way he wrote about himself kept drawing her back. Something about his words felt intentional and real, which was unlike anything she had seen from anyone else. One night in May 2022, Beth ended a particularly rough date early after yet another disappointing experience. Since she was already in Boston, she took a walk through the Common to clear her head. During that walk, she decided to give the guy with the terrible profile pictures a chance. Brian’s eyes went wide when he saw he had a message from the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Not wanting to mess things up, he prayed to every god he could think of for enough charisma to make this work. After a week of talking, (which only amounted to about five messages since Beth was playing hard to get!) Brian finally convinced Beth to meet him for coffee. A few days later, Beth walked into the coffee shop and spotted Brian. To her surprise, he was much better looking in person. For the first time in her dating life, Beth had found a guy who seriously undersold himself! Flustered by this unexpected twist, Beth felt that she went into this date a little too casually. When the barista took her order, she ordered three drinks for herself. Brian was surprised by his date’s thirst, but he was also very charmed by her drink order. The charm did not stop there. That day in early June 2022, Beth and Brian took their first steps toward the life they share today. In what already feels like a lifetime, they've since moved in together and expanded their family by adopting their dog, Jackson. Life has not always been perfectly easy, but the two (*three) of them are happiest when they're together. That is why, on August 16th, 2025, Brian made sure Jackson was there to help celebrate when he knelt on one knee at sunset in the Arnold Arboretum to ask Beth to marry him! This story is far from over — It's the first chapter in the greatest love story ever written...