At the spine of this story is a special place along the Chesapeake Bay called the North Beach Boardwalk. - Cinco De Mayo 2023 - Laura and I met during a festive monthly block party hosted by the town called, “First Fridays”. She approached from the south with two of her best friends, one whom I recognized as a former co-worker, Jesseca. At that moment, neither of us were ready for the dynamic, supportive, and exciting relationship we now call home for different reasons. However, the chance encounter was instantly magnetic and left me wondering about the depth behind her aquamarine eyes. Laura wondered about my age. Clearly, hats have a way of masking my ever-increasing male pattern baldness. We parted ways with a smile, curious, and continued our evenings separately. It took the summer for us to find our way back to each other even though we worked 5-minutes and lived only 10-minutes from one another. Which for those who don’t live around here might as well equate to winning the local dating lottery. We began engaging with to each other's online updates, discovering common interests like a strong connection with family, a love for animals, and an appetite for delicious home cooking. Neither one of us is a quitter, I reached out and invited Laura to join me for an end-of-summer concert at Merriweather Pavilion- 20th-anniversary concert tour of Death Cab for Cutie + Postal Service. The car ride up flew by, which says a lot because it took an hour and a half to get there. A vibe had blossomed and apparently, we were not the only one to notice. After ordering steak frites and a couple seltzers at the concession stand our number was called and a handwritten napkin from Ginger the concession stand worker would become a inside joke to this day. On Cinco De Mayo 2024, I asked Laura if she would put up with me forever. And thank God she said “yes”.