LICHEN'S STORY

"He worked at Safeway with my mom, so I saw him pretty regularly. He was always super nice. My mom called him her "work son." One time one of my coworkers at Great Clips had messed up his haircut a little bit -- he had a really god awful mohawk at the time -- so my mom told him to come to me and told me to fix it for him. She meant cut the stupid thing off, and I did. We started to really hit it off after he hung out with the person I was seeing at the time -- another person from Safeway, actually. My mom asked me how I felt about him; I think I just got super cagey and said I thought he was nice, but my mother is no idiot. She actually told me NOT to go for it. He had just gotten out of a sort of rough relationship and she thought he had baggage. This did not stop me. So one time, when my mom went to hang out with another one of her friends at Wild Bill's, she told me to tag along and I invited Eli. I love telling this bit. We went a little back and forth about it; he was broke and almost wouldn't even let me pay for him, but I won and he came with. The only thing I really remember talking about was how much he hates pandas. He was so passionate about it, I thought it was hilarious. So I went home with him and sort of just never left. He asked me to marry him on my birthday in 2019, not quite two months after that first date and I knew right away I wanted to. I'd almost married a guy a couple years before but I wasn't totally sure of the idea, and I remember my mom had told me, "if it isn't an absolute yes, then it's a no." Right away I felt like, with Eli, it was an absolute yes. Neither of us had any money to do anything about it at the time though, so we waited. And waited. And then March 2020 happened and -- this is how I know we're made for each other -- we were both just like well, this is a fantastic excuse to not have to think about it for a while. We'd talk about it periodically, but there wasn't any rush. In October 2024 we actually went down to Vegas for a music festival and I joked that we could just do it while we were down there. Obviously we didn't, but that's about how much thought we'd really put into it by that point. I'm sort of glad we waited as long as we did, honestly. I've watched three separate sets of friends get married and divorced in the amount of time that we've just been hanging out. We've gone through a lot together. The pandemic, obviously, but also some turbulent mental health, I got laid off from a job at one point, fights with friends, family deaths, all kinds of stuff. I think basically everything that couples can go through, we pretty much have by now. Now we're just adding minor aesthetic disputes about the wedding to the list and after everything we've done already, it's really easy to handle. We're pretty in sync anyway. I'm really excited. After the relationships I've had in the past, I really never thought I would be this excited about getting married, but I'm psyched. It's like, for once, finally, I have a really clear picture of the future I want to have and it's because of him."

ELI'S STORY

"They were the child of someone I worked with and considered a friend. I saw them occasionally and I was always awestruck. The first time I ever spoke to them was when their mother was leaving work and they were with her. I told them to have a good night and Lichen responded sarcastically with, "Don't tell me what to do!" The forwardness of their comment truly resonated with me. I like to think that was when I knew I truly liked and was interested in this person. After that, I went on with my life until I got a haircut that definitely did not turn out as intended. Luckily my friend, their mom Shannon, told me that the salon next door would fix the mistake for free and that I had to have her child do it. I went and had a nice conversation with Lichen (read: them teasing me about my horrible haircut) while they fixed my hair. I was later invited to hang out with some coworkers and Lichen was also there. We had such a great time hanging out and talking the whole time. I couldn't stop thinking about them after that, and within the next few days I learned neither could they, because they asked me to get a drink with them at a bar with their mom and another coworker. We had such an amazing night that we decided to see each other again the next day, and then the next day, and it just continued from there. I knew after a short time that they were the one for me. They just got me. I may have been a little eager but I asked them to marry me one day and they said yes without hesitation. We didn't plan anything right away and then 2020 happened and the world kind of paused. We continued our life together and experienced hardship and loss but we got through them because we were together. Now, after 5 years and the world is running again, and with me getting a promotion, we see a bright future for ourselves. Lichen has always been my light in the dark and the person who I run to. They accepted me. They showed me the man I was always meant to be, and I know that man is meant to be their husband."