Brenna and Seamus' story technically began long before they ever actually spoke.

Back in high school, Brenna was a summer swim coach and grew especially close with one family of swimmers she coached. During the winter swim season, the youngest sibling confidently informed Brenna that she should date her older brother. Brenna laughed, assuming she meant the oldest swimmer on the team. The swimmer quickly corrected her—there was actually a fourth sibling, one Brenna's age.

As it turns out, that mysterious fourth sibling was Seamus… who Brenna had already been referring to to her friends as the “hot guy from math class.” Somehow, despite going to the same school, being in the same prom group (with different dates), and Seamus sitting right behind Brenna at graduation, the two had never actually talked.

That summer, Brenna coached swim again and Seamus' siblings took their matchmaking responsibilities very seriously. They made sure Brenna and Seamus kept “accidentally” running into each other. At one point, seamus’ younger brother even asked Brenna for help before a race just so she’d walk over and talk to Seamus. Meanwhile, Seamus's family was busy telling him all about how awesome their swim coach was.

Soon they discovered they would both be attending the same college. Right before move-in, Brenna decided to text Seamus, thinking it might be nice to know at least one person from home. That single text quickly turned into Seamus spending lots of time with Brenna and her suitemates.

In September, Seamus asked Brenna on their first official date. The plan was to walk downtown and visit a cat rescue… except there were no cats that day. None. So instead they wandered around Harrisonburg until dinner and then walked back to campus. Brenna later realized Seamus must really like her when he willingly attended a Renaissance Fair with her and a friend. Soon, daily coffee dates became their thing.

In early 2020, everything changed when everyone was sent home from spring break and never returned due to COVID. Seamus' family was living in Moscow for work, so he suddenly had nowhere to go. Brenna's family welcomed him into their home for four months. They made the most of a very strange time with lots of long walks in the Virginia humidity and probably more family dinners than Seamus expected when he started dating Brenna.

In June 2020 Seamus moved to Moscow, and the two didn’t see each other again for a full year. They finally reunited in June 2021 after Brenna finished studying abroad at Oxford and Seamus came to visit. Long distance across continents wasn’t easy, but somehow they survived.

That fall Seamus returned to the U.S., transferring to a university about an hour away. Weekend visits quickly became the routine. After Brenna graduated and was accepted to PA school, the two moved into a very tiny studio apartment in Charlottesville and adopted Murphy the cat, who quickly established himself as the true ruler of the household.

Life got busy again when Brenna moved closer to school for clinical rotations while Seamus worked in Washington, D.C., but they made the most of every opportunity to travel together—both across the U.S. and internationally.

In May 2025, they took a trip to Florida so Brenna could relax before comprehensive exams and graduation. After visiting friends, going to Universal, and swimming with manatees, they ended the trip in Key West. On May 9th, after dinner, Seamus insisted they visit a historic fort before it closed at sunset. This seemed perfectly normal for Seamus… so normal that he even convinced Brenna to take her key lime pie to go (which she was not thrilled about).

While walking along the beach, Brenna announced she needed to find a bathroom before continuing. Seamus laughed, then asked to see the sunglasses she was wearing. When she refused, he simply took them off her face and tossed them down the beach. Brenna was extremely annoyed—until she realized Seamus was suddenly down on one knee.

The rest of the evening was spent taking photos, calling family, and finally eating Brenna's now room-temperature key lime pie.

Today, Brenna and Seamus live together in Northern Virginia with their cat and new puppy, Beni, who keep them very busy. As they celebrate eight years together, they’re also preparing for their post-nuptial move to Los Angeles and can’t wait for friends and family to come visit and continue the adventure with them.

B&S