How did Shannon and I meet? Well where else would we have met but In a cemetery, of course. Andersonville National Historic Cemetery, to be more precise, located in the middle of rural Georgia. Shannon and I were both members of a conservation corps called American Conservation Experience (ACE). Basically we were contractors that went to different National Parks, National Forests, state parks, etc and did whatever jobs needed to be done. In this particular case we were grounds keeping for this cemetery. More specifically, we were realigning headstones. A job that required slamming your weight into wonky headstones, pulling them out of the ground, adding dirt, and placing them back straight in the ground. Not the most cliche of romantic settings. But a beautiful and very unique experience nonetheless.

But that’s not exactly the truth… no, to be completely honest my first memory of Shannon comes from the morning before driving to our first project together at Andersonville.

It was my first morning waking up in the 40+ person home that everyone in the conservation corp shared. We were based out of Asheville, NC and being that I had just recently finished a 3 month stint at a different branch I wasn’t particularly thrilled to find myself back again in this familiar setting. Lacing up my boots at 6 am, strapping on my backpack, grabbing my tent and sleeping bag, and headed toward the van that would take me and my unknown crew members off to Georgia for our project and new home for the next 2 weeks. I was trying to get ready inconspicuously, a difficult task to do in such a large communal home, especially for the fact that there were only 3 bathrooms for everyone. I finally had secured an empty bathroom, and as I stood in front of the mirror gathering my thoughts, accepting that it truly was the beginning of my next 6 month stint, I hear a commanding voice roaming the halls of the house. “Joshua Brumagin?” ….. “where’s Joshua Brumagin?”…. “JOSHUA BRUMAGIN?”…. I figured that was probably a good sign that I had procrastinated long enough. I take one last long in-hale and stepped out into the hallway to a hectic scene of all those Corp members getting ready to embark on their own journeys. But what do I mostly see? A small woman, rapidly approaching. Weaving and dodging through all the hectic-ness around her like she had dealt with a large communal house before. Brown hair, glasses, and walking with purpose, eyes that were locked on me. She walked right up to me face-to-face… well, her face to my chest more so… but a presence that made it feel like she was towering over me. She looked up at me, readjusted her glasses onto the bridge of her nose, and said. “Are you Joshua Brumagin?…. Alright, well it’s time come on let’s go.” Then immediately turned around and started walking toward the outside. In that moment, as I readjusted my backpack straps and struggled to catch up with her, little did I realize that I had just met my future wife.

From then on, Shannon and I spent the next 6 months in the conservation Corp together trying to work as many of the same projects as we could. Sometimes we were successful, often thanks to Shannon’s meddling, and sometimes we weren’t. But we always found ways to be together. Whether that was on our weekends, floating the river together or going to a brewery, or through written letters to each other while we worked on different projects.

Near the end of our 6-month contract, Shannon started talking about wanting to go on a long road trip with me. Of course me being the brave and big thinker that I am, pondered what a “long road trip” would mean. I thought to myself… “hmmm maybe 2 weeks? yeah that seems like a long road trip length of time, yeah that would be fun!” A thought to which Shannon laughed at and said “no no no buddy, 2 weeks!? Come on, I’m thinking more along the lines of an indefinitely long road trip”.

An indefinitely long road trip… An idea so large and daunting, that it seemed incomprehensibly exciting. Well, she had me. I was hooked. Thus began our journey together. A journey that took us out of the Carolinas, through Texas, to the Pacific North West, through Canada, and all the way into Alaska. Where we spent a summer season working on wildlife cruise boats getting to see and enjoy some of the most breathtaking sights that a southern boy like me had ever seen.

After 7 months in Alaska our road trip continued back to the east coast where we settled for 6 months in Charleston, SC before picking back up and heading back west to Washington state.

In Washington we found a little slice of paradise for a short time in a small town called Enumclaw. I worked a cash register at a ski resort and Shannon as a Special Education para educator at a local middle school. We learned a lot about each other and ourselves living there. Enough so, that at this point on our journey we decided that an “indefinite road trip” wasn’t enough, we wanted to get married.

Shannon asked me, of course, in a tree… in Pennsylvania. A "declaration of love" as she called it. A few days after this declaration of love, we found ourselves sitting under a different, but just as beautiful tree. It was under the shade of this impressive tree that we decided to get married. And in a classic-us-fashion, we found ourselves talking about forever together but no rings to honor this engagement. Shannon acting quickly, saw two cicada shells clinging to the tree to which we hilariously then attached to one another’s finger as an IOU engagement ring.

Since then, our journey has brought us to Southern Texas where we have added an addition to our little family, Taika Waikiki. The handsomest, loudest meowing, long haired good boy of a cat.

Now the three of us get to spend evenings together optimistically looking forward to where our journey might lead us to next.

Josh and I met in May of 2021 in a graveyard (Georgia's Andersonville National Historic Cemetery) realigning headstones as co-workers in a conservation corps. Technically, we met in Asheville, North Carolina at the conservation corps' base house the morning we drove to Andersonville. Our crew leader was trying to account for all members of our crew, and tasked me with finding the final person. I trotted briskly around the halls shouting JOSHUAAAAAAAAAAA until I found some sleepy-headed, sweet-looking punk, and pushily commanded him outside. He wasn't late, but took my pushing like a champ.

For six months, I continued to bully and command and invent plans that brought us together. I insisted we be fast friends under the guise of just using him for his car for weekend river floats, frequent visits to a fantastic taco shop called White Duck, and delightful afternoons rollerblading. I then convinced him it was a great idea to embark on a road trip together once our conservation contracts were up. I left the length of the road trip vague, except to simultaneously balk and scoff when Josh mentioned a single week of exploration might suffice. I tactfully waited until the eve of our trip to inform him of my true intentions: I'd like to ask you on a date, I bashfully admitted that night, and I'd like this date to be this road trip of undetermined length. To my great relief, he said yes.

So, we did what every sane newly-formed couple does: lived in extremely close conditions out of my Subaru for three months and slowly made our way west. We stopped through several National Parks and sought out free campsites on US Forest Service / BLM land. We took things slowly, of course - I mean, it took us a whole month to get from North Carolina to Texas. By the time we left Arizona at the end of the second month of our road trip, he had met about 90% of my family. He had a perfect opportunity to jump ship during the third month when one of his best friends, Chase, joined us in Utah and Idaho, but he stayed with me. He claimed he was still having fun, but I was suspicious that he was just too kind to let me down.

The first date ended in Tillamook, Oregon, where we lived for a shorter amount of time than that first road trip.

Our second date took us from Oregon to Alaska, where we spent a season working on wildlife tour boats that dipped into Kenai Fjords National Park and sought out a number of ridiculously amazing marine life like humpback and orca whales.

Our third date covered the most amount of ground: Alaska back to the East Coast with a short detour to Texas. We played in Charleston, South Carolina for half a year before heading back west.

Our fourth date resulted in the longest pause between road trips, and saw us living in Washington for a year and a half. It was during this stretch that we decided we liked each other so much, we may as well get some tax benefits from it and make it government official.

We did take a fifth road trip this past fall from Washington down to my hometown in South Texas, where we are currently living. I even brought my mother on that date, as we had accumulated so much Facebook Marketplace furniture in Washington that a UHaul was required to tow down everything.

And so, that takes us from May of 2021 to the present day as briefly as I could possibly make it. Our story is not a traditional one, and is as strange and unique as us. Josh is the sweetest guy I’ve ever met, and he’s easy on the eyes. He’s endlessly patient with my juxtaposition of chaotic spontaneity and compulsive rigidity. He loves to explore, loves the outdoors, but, best of all, he loves me exactly as I am.