W POV: March 2021 - Our mutual friend, Anna Brown, convinced us both to work another season for the Spoleto Festival in the box office. We became co-workers and found a friend in each other during our mandatory, hourly, 15-minute- COVID-aeration breaks. It seemed Anna knew what she was doing when she scheduled us to work the same shifts. During the next few months, we worked on the same team and went on nights out with friends together. She stayed in Charleston and started working at the Charleston Gaillard Center around the same time that I began full-time at the Charleston Music Hall and Music Farm. Our friendship continued and, despite the chance of it ruining what we had as friends, I was honest with Brianna about how I felt (she turned me down TWICE in the first six months of knowing each other). We remained friends and my romantic feelings for Brianna lingered in the background. After a handful of relationships in my late teens/early 20s, I learned what I needed in a life partner and saw that in Brianna. I gave her space and waited for her to realize on her own that we were made for one another. On March 1, 2023, we went to the beach on Sullivan’s Island at sunset to honor the first anniversary of her mother’s passing. Sitting in the sand and listening to the waves crash against the shore, Brianna shared how her heart had been feeling and before realizing what was happening, the woman I had been pining after for the past 2 years agreed to put a label on our feelings that were greater than friendship. Over the summer of 2023, Brianna moved in (with her son, Otis). We moved to our current home on James Island the following summer. Brianna proposed to me at the beach on my 28th birthday, in the same spot where our relationship began. To celebrate our 2nd anniversary, we eloped! I found what I need in a life partner, in Brianna: someone who supports me emotionally and has a caring soul. Someone who reassures me that everything will be okay and makes home a safe place. B&W4ever! B POV: I met my future wife at 14 George St in Charleston in March 2021. Despite how patient Whitley was forced to be, I know neither of us would change a thing. Whitley is an incredible listener and I loved how we would talk about anything and everything during our COVID mandated ‘aeration’ breaks in the Spoleto courtyard. I am grateful for my friendship with Whitley helping me through a very difficult year of transition and grief. It took a lot of words of encouragement from the people that know me best, but in March 2023, I surprised Whitley on the beaches of Sullivan’s Island with a lot of written words on what they meant to me, most importantly at the time being, “I have no idea what I’m doing, but I really like you and I want to be with you”. After many weeks stumbling into a new relationship, we decided to move in together that Fall, when my Summer sublease ended. There was never a moment I thought we were moving too fast; what we had already established in our intimate friendship, we only deepened feeling even more vulnerable and safe with each other. I have never felt so calm, seen, and safe being in a relationship with Whitley. They have always been family. Officially beginning our family, I proposed to Whitley on their 28th birthday on November 5th, 2024. Whitley’s known to get what they want, despite what some may believe, and since our first Summer together, they always knew we were going to get married on March 1st, 2025, two exact years (“and on a Saturday, too!”) after I finally got over myself and asked Whitley to be my partner. That very morning of March 1st, we signed our marriage license on the same beaches I asked them to be mine, every time. To many more March 1st…I love you, W. -B