Every version of us
brought me here.

315 North Harmony Street · Medina

Sam, we met on the front porch at 315 North Harmony Street while we were both working at Medina Creative Accessibility. It was late September 2017, and I had no idea how much that ordinary night would come to mean to me.

I still remember your black V-neck, your khakis, and your braids. I remember the warm night and the moment our eyes met. I couldn’t have known then that one day I’d marry you, build a home with you, and spend months making a magazine about the life we started there.

Now, whenever I think about that porch, I think about everything I hadn’t discovered about you yet—and how glad I am that I got the chance.

Aboard the Nautica Queen · Cleveland

Sam, “Stand by Me” always takes me back to that night on the Nautica Queen with the Cleveland Bicentennial Club. I asked the DJ to play it, and we danced together. That was the night it really became our song.

I love that hearing it gives us somewhere to go back to. To that boat, that evening, and the two of us, still early in a life together that would become so much bigger.

We’ve made so many memories since then, but I’ll always love having that one with you. Every time the song comes on, I get a little of that night back.

Cleveland Botanical Garden

Sam, I spent a year preparing to ask you to marry me. I planned every single detail, all while keeping the biggest part of it a secret from you.

I booked the entire Cleveland Botanical Garden for our own private event and told you we were going to a leadership alumni social. Even the photographer was part of the plan: someone who had participated in leadership with me, so their being there wouldn’t make you suspicious.

While you thought we were going to a social, I knew I was finally going to ask the question I’d spent a year preparing for. I had thought through the setting, the people, and how to get you there. But your reaction was the part I had to wait for—the part that made it ours.

After I proposed, we had our photoshoot, then went to your parents’ house for a catered dinner with your friends and family. I wanted us to have that time together first, followed by a chance to celebrate with the people you loved.

I loved planning that day for you. Looking back, I can see the same feeling behind this magazine: getting to know what would mean something to you, quietly putting the pieces together, and looking forward to the moment I could finally let you in on the surprise.

Silver Creek Metro Park · Norton

Sam, when I think about our wedding day, the moment I come back to most is our private vow reading at Silver Creek. Before the ceremony, we took that time to read our promises to each other.

Of everything we did that day, that’s the part that has stayed with me most. I got to hear what you wanted to promise me, and I got to tell you what being your husband meant to me, before we stood in front of everyone else.

I love that we have that memory together. Our wedding gave us so much to celebrate, but those quiet moments with you are the ones I treasure most.

Now, two years into being your husband, I get to look back on those promises with a life we’ve continued building around them. I’m so glad it was you standing there with me.

Our second anniversary

Sam, back on that porch, I couldn’t have pictured all of this. The songs we’d call ours, the year I’d spend planning to propose, or the promises we’d read to each other before our wedding.

Now I’m here, putting those memories into a magazine for you, realizing how much we have to look back on—and how much I still look forward to with you.

I love our big moments. I also love getting to sit beside you when nothing special is happening. Playing a game, talking about our day, being home with Apollo and Athena. That’s the life I’m celebrating in these pages, too.

Happy second anniversary, Beautiful. I’m so glad that night on the porch led me here, to being your husband. I can’t wait to see what we’ll have to put in next year’s issue.