Sean and Gabby met at a mutual friend’s wedding in Hawaii. It was during peak COVID times so traveling to the island was difficult. Sean was driven to the airport by his father (who definitely had COVID although he won’t admit it) with the windows rolled up and developed the lovely virus himself. Little did he know this strain of coronavirus was going to change his life forever.

Gabrielle had just moved to Hawaii not two days earlier, having a suitcase on another island that hadn’t even been unpacked yet. She was planning on getting away from the city to work remotely with her lifelong best friend, Melanie.

The two met briefly at the beginning of the wedding and by the end, they were the only two people left on the dance floor. They had planned on going to the beach the next day, where Sean DEFINITELY would have put the charm on her. Alas, COVID reared its ugly head and sent a panic throughout the wedding guests, as Sean believed he may have been responsible for the impending death count of people he interacted with at the wedding. Much to his and everyone’s relief, he was a terrible superspreader and couldn’t even give Covid to his friends with whom he was staying.

But from something bad, came something incredibly good, as Gabby and Sean worked their internet sleuthing abilities to find one another on social media. Gabby reached out with a message of comfort and hoped Sean’s family was okay. It was then that they began to talk. And talk and talk and talk all day long. Sean was confined to the windowless basement of a friend of a friend while he quarantined himself on the Big Island. While the coronavirus dwindled within him, their affection for one another grew and grew. Sean, having no reason to go back to Los Angeles, decided to stick around for a while and extend his tropical vacation. He arrived on Oahu and the two went to the North Shore, a beautiful and iconic beach. They were in the ocean for less than a half hour when rogue waves decided to crash the party and tried dragging their things into the watery depths. They laughed it off and it was then Sean began to realize that this girl was something special, the way she handled a situation with grace and humility. They spent the next 10 days running around the island, exploring, hiking, climbing, even kissing! When the trip was done, Sean left feeling like he had just experienced a woman who he couldn’t live without. Within a few weeks, it was obvious the two were meant for each other.

They continued their love across the vast stretches of the Pacific Ocean for a brief but extremely slow 9 months, until Gabby jumped the ocean to join him in sunny Southern California. They lived there for 3 years, all the while exploring everything the southwest had to offer. They spent their days soaking up sunlight, gardening, hiking, visiting the national parks, beachgoing, all the while falling deeper and deeper in love.

Upon returning to the East Coast in October of 2024, Sean knew it was time to make the call, that there was no other woman on the world who could make him so happy. On her golden birthday, and also Thanksgiving, Sean proposed in front of the whole family, and she said yes! Sean had never seen Gabby cry so much. Seriously, you could have filled a swimming pool with those tears.

Our tale is catching up to the present now, however there is still decades of love and laughter to come, and Gabby and Sean work each day to love each other and take care of one another, the way any good couple should.