I believe it was tad’s niece who coined the phrase “to love, to hold, to cherish, to adventure. Those are life’s wonders.”

All love stories revolve around the first meeting. I won’t sit here and prattle on about such introductions as Romeo and Juliet, or Pride and Prejudice, or John Snow and Ygritte because Tad and Gabrielle put them all to shame on the simple date of May 19, 2020. While the world was barred by Covid, these two near strangers fled to Pluckers in Fort Worth because Tad had grabbed a $5 off coupon from a Ranger’s game. It was there they discussed the chaotic lives often granted to the young and adventurous, and where they can snag more of those coupons. But, eventually, the $5 coupon was used, and the two left to go to a Total Wine simply because they weren’t ready to leave each other’s company. There, they entertained each other with funny and even embarrassing stories inspired by the labels on the shelves and listened to the elevator music that the employees were probably playing to get them to leave the store. It is that very same elevator music the two listen to when they decide to dance together now. So, take that Total Wine employees.

After that first date, a few similarities became very clear: 1. Gabrielle and Tad were able to turn any simple act into a grand adventure; 2. They enjoyed the chaos of said adventures; 3. They both loved a good deal, and 4. They were not done looking for more bargained endeavors together.

And so, endeavors they did. Their relationship was filled with as many unplanned escapades as it was love. I need not remind you of the Fourth of July they spent in Las Vegas (que a wink or two here) or that coastal storm they narrowly avoided just a few weeks after. Even when they weren’t on a 24-hour one-shot road trips to see family, 15-hour flights for times of celebration, or 9-hour bullet-train rides to see snow sculptures, and their lives were calm and unbothered, the two were still able to enjoy the peace and quiet that can only be experienced by soulmates.

On February 4th, 2024, nearly four years after that first date, they embarked on a treasure hunt with some close friends. A hunt that might not have interested Gabriella if Tad brought it up at Total Wine, but now had become a means to celebrate and allow friends to exercise their impressive powers of suggestion. This hunt concluded with Tad bowing on one knee and Gabrielle being able to have a really cool treasure chest and the two of them proclaiming that they were ready to spend the rest of this chaotic adventure we so aptly call life together, forever.

Written by Jocelyn, because, I love you Tad, but I do think my version’s better (hair toss)