"Ask any comedian, athlete, or chief, timing is everything"

Like many couples, Laura and I met at work. Her, behind the bar making drinks and I, serving in the dining room. We were friendly, and I've always found her to be beautiful in an out of my league kind of way, but things didn't go much beyond work. Server orders drinks, bartender makes said drinks, server takes drinks to the guest, rinse and repeat.

One day, several years later, as I was walking past the bar before the start of dinner service, I noticed a partially completed crossword puzzle atop the black marble of the bar. Giving it a quick scan, and I took it upon myself to fill in a couple of blank squares on the grid before continuing on my way. Later, I would learn that Laura’s first response to my “help” would be annoyance both for completing part of the puzzle and that I had filled it out in pen, but I think she forgave me when my answers happened to be correct. The smallest of steps, but this would be the first point of connection between us and when I would see her with a crossword at the bar before her shift I would always stop and chat. Unbeknownst to me, our short conversations would spark a fondness and eventually a romantic interest in Laura that would go unsaid for quite some time.

In 2020, work would take me away from Chicago for two years, and in the interim Laura wondered if she had missed her chance to say her feelings out loud. She purposed that if in the future the universe gave her the chance, she wouldn’t let it go to waste. At a party hosted by our friend, Parker, Laura and I were reunited. Over the course of the evening, she got her chance. That night would lead to a first date at Daisies, wandering museums, nurturing a common love of coffee and food, and countless texts and hours of conversation.

In the beginning of 2023, the adventure took us to West Virginia, a new state to begin our lives together. In January, I went ahead to begin a new job, but left my heart behind in Chicago. That spring, when I went back to get Laura, I asked her to go on one last Chicago coffee date. Over our coffees and, of course, a crossword puzzle, I asked her if she would marry me. Thankfully, she said yes.