[Now Loading… Disc 1 ~ A Roll of the Dice]

On paper, James and Laura met online, which is fairly typical in this day and age. However, it was not on an app. or a website meant for dating at all. They met on a website called Twitch in 2017, which is all about interacting with people while they are live-streaming themselves playing video games. They talked back and forth for months about video games and other “nerdy” pursuits. After a while, they moved their conversation to private messaging due to their common interests and wanting to get to know each other even better. When they realized they were both from the GTA, it seemed like a surreal coincidence, and after countless nights of falling asleep with a phone in hand, the two decided to meet up with one another in person.

[Now Loading… Disc 2 ~ Hellos and Temporary Goodbyes]

Their first date involved making margaritas and watching One Piece, as well as a few good friends, and it went fantastic. They got together a few more times, including an adventurous weekend together in Toronto, but it seemed like this would be a very short-lived thing, as Laura was only home for a brief visit. At the time, she was living in Wales finishing her Master’s degree. The last night they saw each other before she had to go back was brutal, and they agreed that, while it would be challenging, they wanted to see if what they had could survive across an ocean and a five hour time difference.

[Now Loading… Disc 3 ~ Long-Distance Dungeon Crawling]

Challenging was definitely an understatement, and every time Laura got on a plane, both Laura and James were a hot mess, but the first official year of their relationship took place in a very similar fashion to how it started. It didn’t help that Laura was a morning person and James was a night owl, so while the time difference was only five hours, it often worked out that one was awake while the other was asleep. Thank the gods for the internet and long-distance movie nights… despite Laura only falling asleep to the same three movies. Luckily for them, once her degree was finished and some opportunities presented themselves, Laura moved back to Canada. For the next one or two years, their relationship still had a bit of distance involved, but only on the 401… which sometimes felt way worse than the six hour plane ride!

[Now Loading… Disc 4 ~ A New Quest Begins]

Eventually, the romantic gamers managed to move in together, and appreciated it so much more after being constantly forced to spend so much time apart. Almost two years ago, they bought their first house. There was now plenty of room for board games and the need for a board game shelf, Dungeons and Dragons books and dice, video games, computers and his and hers desks, and much more. After long discussions and roughly a year and a half ago, they got their first (of hopefully many, if Laura has her way) fur baby in their rescue kitty Bailey, who loves them despite not showing it all of the time. Only one thing was missing, and James filled that gap on October 20th, 2022 when he proposed to Laura with her grandmother’s ring on their front porch. Laura said yes… that’s called rolling a Natural 20 on a Charisma check.

This special day has been A LONG TIME coming and the two can’t wait to share it with you all.

Photographs