In September 2020, a friend of Jonel's predicted her first year in Trinidad, CO would be full of aces. She said she saw Jonel buying a beautiful house on a hill, she'd land the job she'd been hoping for, and that she would meet her knight in shining armor -- except, instead of armor, he'd be holding a shit ton of cups. While the first two were checked off quickly, the third was downright idiotic: Trinidad's dating scene was non-existent. Regardless, she figured 2/3 were pretty impressive odds for a friendly psychic connection.

Meanwhile, Robbie was in Indianapolis dreaming up a move to the same Colorado mountain town to manage a tap room. By spring 2021, the tap house had its grand opening & Jonel had emailed her resume to him with links to her ridiculous videos she'd produced for other breweries. We'd like to tell you that when she walked in to discover how handsome he was and notice all the damn cups he was holding... that lighting struck and the rest was history. But the sage's premonition was lost on her completely, because the first thing Robbie did was introduce her to his then-girlfriend.

They did have a really positive work relationship and the tap room became the living room of Trinidad as the pandemic lifted. Robbie revealed his musical talent, open mic was never more special, trivia was born, and more people paid over $7 for swampy sour beers than our dusty-booted town ever would have dreamed.

Jonel taught Robbie how to use Google calendars. Robbie was a respectful boss. They both liked to razzle the same favorite customers. Otherwise, the only thing they shared was an affinity for sarcasm.

His girlfriend left town to pursue her acting dreams -- something Robbie knew was coming but came as a shock to the rest of town. A few days later (on October 18, 2021) a group went down the street for drinks after open mic ended. Robbie and Jonel hung out socially outside of work for the very first time. A game of pool and a few rounds of Ms. Pac Man later, Robbie walked her to her car and gave her a not-so-bossly handshake to confirm the chemistry was real.

The next day Jonel invited Robbie over for farm-fresh eggs and an ass-whooping at Carcassone. He brought sandwiches. And it took these idiots another 40 hours of hanging out that week before he kissed her. They watched the entire Evil Dead franchise, stargazed on the rooftop of his house, swapped ghost stories, and gave Robbie plenty of chances to redeem himself at Carcassone. And finally, he made his move, sparks flew, and the gosh dang cups prediction finally clicked.

By the time town noticed Robbie making eyes at Jonel during a Reckless show, there were whispers of a scandal. But those gossip queens were dead wrong.

While it was supposed to be fun, with a plan to take things slow... on their first weekend away in the Old Hog, they accidentally got real high and dreamed of a future together.

In the years since, they've laughed 1,374 out of 1,374 days (as of this post), they've supported each other through great losses, they moved halfway across the country in search of opportunities -- the biggest one being a chance to make that gleam in their eyes into a real human boy named Charley. Look at him; you'll see it.

And now, because the order of operations never matters in happy endings, these pellet-chasing mazers are going to tie the knot like they first dreamed about way back when in Santa Fe.