It was late December 2018. My co-worker Daniel and I left our New Jersey hotel room. We had flown in from the other coast and had a little time to settle into our room, only to be on the go again. We were headed towards another co-worker's house, someone I had never met before, Zora Browne. She had volunteered to host the party, and apparently her event planning skills were unmatched!

Standing at the door, waiting for someone to answer the bell, I was a little nervous. Most of the people I was about to meet had never met me in person before, and I had no idea what to expect. Some of them I had never even met virtually, simply because my work did not require our interaction, like Zora. Moments passed and the door began to open.

"Daniel! So good to see you again!" Zora reached out and gave him a hug. I watched in awe, literally staring at the most beautiful person I had ever met. She was so elegant, kind, & inviting, and it was refreshing to see someone so in touch with those around her. As she let go, she asked "And who is this with you?!"

"This is Chris Webb," he replied. He turned his gaze to me as well, guiding this beautiful person to glance in my direction.

"Oh, you are the guy who fixes everything!" My heart melted in my chest. Before I could even respond, she reached out and embraced me too. I was completely surprised.

Totally off-guard and a bit enamored, I slowly muttered "Yep... Thats... me...." Awkwardly, I hugged her back, perhaps for too long. When it seemed right to let go, I stumbled backward, breathless. It was clear, in that moment, that I had to get some time to speak with her, alone, or as alone as you can get in the midst of a party, so that we could get to know each other a little.

Time flew at the party. I remember playing a few party games with my newly introduced, distant co-workers. I liked to watch as people just mingled in the other room. Occasionally, I would wander around and chime in, for short bursts. I was never really good at small talk, but I wanted to make sure that people felt like I was approachable.

Later, I saw Zora sitting on the couch, watching some people play video games. This was my chance to chat. I politely asked if I could sit near her, and she warmly invited me to have a seat.

Again awkwardly, I tried to start a conversation. Most of the time, when I talk with people, they find that I am too strange or that my perspective is a little too off beat, and they tend to end the conversation pretty quickly. To my surprise though, Zora did not run for the hills. In fact, Zora is an amazing conversationalist.

Even amongst the party, we were able to steal enough conversation to pique some interest. Towards the end of the party, several of the new co-workers I had met were heading to a bar, for the after-party, and Daniel was going with them. Because of my unfamiliarity with the area, I felt like I had to tag along, despite the awesome conversation Zora and I were having.

I wanted to continue, so I invited her to go with us. Sadly, but understandably, she was exhausted, and wanted to stay. Plus she had just gotten a new puppy, Chloe, and was still in the process of house-training her, so her presence at home was a requirement. With that, I bid her a farewell, and spent the remainder of my night thinking about her.

Months later, our employer was hosting the yearly "company retreat," where we would all gather at a farm house in a remote region of California, Ojai. The buzz was that everyone would be there this year and that there were some new events that would bring us all closer together. Excited, I wondered if Zora would attend, but I did not have the guts to ask her.

As a company, we spent 3 days at an amazing horse-ranch, doing team building activities, and late at night, we would travel back to our in-town hotel. The leadership team got to stay at the Ranch, but us common-folk were put up in a hotel several miles away, in a quaint little town. The hotel was on a cute little strip of stores and shops, with a charming small-town vibe that we had a chance to explore in the mornings.

I remember that first day, we arrived at the hotel and settled in, then we all hitched rides to the Ranch with the folks that brought their cars. We did our first ice-breaker day, with a few "getting to know you" activities. Zora was there, but we were never really grouped up, so I had to admire her from afar.

After the Ranch, my co-workers and I met back at the hotel around the swimming pool. Some of us had hit the shops in town earlier that day, and brought some wine to the pool, where we all sat around, just blowing off steam. A few of us were in the pool, some of us were sitting on the edge, and many of us were sitting at the tables and chairs around the pool.

I remember participating in some great conversations while chilling there. Honestly though, I was not even going to hang at the pool, but I had caught wind that Zora might show up, so I forced myself to attend. I still remember sitting there, feet in the pool, and seeing Zora walk around the pool and sit in a chair near me.

Forrest and I were in a conversation about his love life and our general philosophies about love. He was sharing his dating stories, and I was sharing my lack thereof. I was telling him about how I am looking for the right woman, because I want her to be the one and only for me. Zora was there, casually listening, and then out of no where, she chimed in, and engaged me directly about my perspective. She was very interested in hearing about my point of view.

We conversed there for quite some time, until it was extremely late. The next day was supposed to be the "main day", where we did all of the real team-building activities, and it was going to start early. Being adults, we all decided that it was best if we all got to bed, alone, so that we could be ready for the challenges of the next day. Of course, I thought about Zora all night, especially her interest in my love philosophy.

Day two of the retreat was a blast. We got there early, and some of us ate breakfast together. The day flew by, mostly because I was thinking about talking with Zora some more, hopefully, that night. I remember being broken up into groups a number of times, and once again, I was not on her team. Despite that, I sped through the day, focused on my goal, to chat more with Zora.

Later that night, we all stayed at the Ranch, and were able to partake in some of the cool things it had to offer. There were horses on the property, a lime grove, a giant pool, a huge grill area with a wood-fire stove, a party area near the fire, basketball, tennis, a petting zoo (for farm animals), and several other amenities. Most of us spent at least a little time at most of these attractions.

Before we all settled down for the night, some of us hung out in the house, Zora and I included. I remember some of us doing Sudoku, and some of us being super competitive with it. Zora was interested but said she did not really know how. I spent some time with her, showing her the basics, all the while enjoying the one-on-one time we were spending. She took to it like a fish to water and in no time at all, she was finishing her puzzles before even me!

We did some more "small group" activities in the house with some of our closer team members. It is embarrassing to admit, but for most of the free-time hours, I was following Zora around like a lost puppy dog, hoping I could engage with her as much as possible. Later that night, almost all of us wound up near the wood-fire stove and party area.

We all sat around, swapping stories about work, life, love, and any number of other topics while we all dined on grilled goodies. Mixed drinks and beer were passed out like candy, and we were all having a good time. Zora and I were of course talking the whole time, mostly because I was following her. She mentioned that she wanted some s'mores but did not really know how to make them.

Of course, I snuck away to the wood-fire stove. On the way I grabbed marsh mellows, chocolate, and gram crackers. There were people "trying" to make s'mores over the fire but not the way I would. Instead of asking one of them to make it, I did my own thing, standing at a safe distance, with a really long stick for the marsh mellows. Nobody had done it that way, and after I left the area with my completed s'mores, I saw most of them copying me.

Zora was so happy when I handed her a s'more and a drink! I remember her smile in every detail. The whole area just lit up when that grin appeared on her face. It was almost like her smile sparked new life into everyone's conversation, and the energy of the party started to boom... at least for me. My heart melted again.

The next day I realized how enamored I truly was with her. I reflected on how strong I was coming on, and how silly I must have looked just following her around all day and night. Embarrassed, I put the brakes on a little.

This was the last day of the retreat. As a company, we decided to meet at the Ranch, and catch the shuttle to the airport. Luckily, Zora and I were both on the shuttle, but so were a lot of other people. With the brakes on, and the crowd, I clammed up, and barely talked with her. I wound up spending most of the time playing games with a few members from my team. With a quick goodbye, Zora was again whisked away to NYC, and I was slung back to Las Vegas.

Shortly after the retreat, Zora reached out to me on our company chat program, asking me about work stuff, something she had never done before, I guess because of some new responsibilities in her job. I politely helped her, and thought that was the end of our transaction. To my surprise though, she continued the conversation, talking about Sudoku and the lessons I had given her at the retreat. I was definitely still interested in her, thinking about her daily, but I was afraid and still in slowmo.

For several weeks we talked on work chat. We talked about mostly work stuff, sprinkled with personal details in a half-getting-to-know-you tone. After a little time, exchanged numbers and started talking on the phone, outside of work hours. Our private conversations would be on just about any topic under the sun. We shared stories from our childhood, our school years, good moments, bad moments... pretty much everything.

In early June, we transitioned to video chats, because we both realized that communication is about more than just words, but also body-language. We would talk about our days, both at work, and with our respective families and friends. I remember, on a random Wednesday, I sent her some white-roses, her favorite. It was like we were dating, but from across the US, not in person.

Towards the end of June, Zora had mentioned that she was going to be mostly alone on and around her birthday. For a while, I had been looking for an excuse to travel to NYC to see her, and this was it, my golden opportunity. I asked if I could come see her around her birthday.

The expression on her face was priceless! It was like I had made her year! She said that it meant so much to her that I even offered to come and spend time with her on her birthday, and that she wanted to cry tears of joy. Excited that she had accepted my offer, I immediately booked a flight and planned a series of events for her birthday.

A few days later, I flew out to NYC and visited my beau for her birthday. Of course, being the amazing person she is, Zora met me at the airport, and Uber'd me to where I was staying. We spent some time together just talking and enjoying being in each other's presence again. Despite me being nervous as hell, we had a great time for our first in-person meeting in almost two months.

I remember that I had shared with her that I loved to sing, and that I had hosted open-mic night for like 3 years with my previous business partner. She wanted to hear me sing, so in this special moment, I sang for her, for the first time. "Fly Me to the Moon" by Frank Sinatra was that special song, and I could tell she loved it. Over the course of our relationship, I have sang this very song to her a number of times to commemorate this moment.

On her birthday, we went to a high-class restaurant near Time Square. I knew that her favorite food was seafood, so I found and booked a table, for 5:30pm, at one of the top seafood restaurants in the area, Marea. Together we shared an amazing meal, in celebration of her birthday, and I could tell she loved it.

In our conversations leading up to my trip, Zora had mentioned what her favorite Broadway show was and that she loves seeing it any time she could. After dinner, we Uber'd our way a few blocks over to a showing of Phantom of the Opera at 8pm, her favorite. We had great seats, about halfway up the stadium style seating, just high enough to get the full effect of the show. I could tell she loved it!

On the way back to where I was staying, we were talking about how I had to leave the next day. We did not want to cut it too short, but we did not know how we could prolong our time together. In a flash Zora had an idea, and lead me by the hand. I found myself going down some stairs into a lively basement of an unsuspecting building. Inside, I found a bar, with a musician and a mic. We had stumbled on an open-mic night, at a bar!

Though I did not sing there, mostly because I was a little shy, and the sign up list was pretty long, we did have a great time. We watched as a number of people stood up in front of a rando-crowd, and sand their hearts out! I remember having such a great time there and I distinctly remember thinking that it reminded me of my times running my own open-mic nights. It was almost like it was her way of paying homage to that.

It was a perfect night. I remember laying in bed, staring at the ceiling, just reflecting on how perfect it had been, and how much she really enjoyed every bit of it. I knew I had found my person; that one person who you can share anything with, and that will just accept you; that person that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with; that person I wanted to marry and love forever.

After flying home, our conversations were about how much we enjoyed each other's company. We talked about when we felt like we had actually started dating. Neither of us knew, because it was kind of fluid. It had never actually been verbalized. Each of us had just assumed it happened, without either of us actually asking the other.

Together we decided to just say a day and call that the day that we started dating. Without missing a beat, we both said "June 10th!" It was a special moment. We had decided that even though it had not been said, we agreed, simultaneously and unanimously, that it started on June 10th.

Please join us to celebrate our union, on June 10th, 2022.