How it all began
The template for this website had a cutesy quote about how ‘she just took my breath away the moment I saw her’, or some cliché like that. Those of you who know us (which if you’re reading this we’d hope you do) will know that that is absolutely not what Sarah and I thought of each other. It’s a long time ago now, but we’re pretty sure the internal monologues went something like this:
Sarah: Who the hell is that camp posh toff that’s just walked in in a waistcoat, and bowtie?
Will: What on earth is all that noise? (a thought I still have each day)
Twelve years ago Sarah and I worked together in the sleepy village pub that you will all be driving past on the day, it wasn’t the chic gastro-pub-cum-restaurant that it is today, it was a sticky carpet, stale beer, angry chef kind of place, the kind of pub that can only exist on hiring underpaid reprobates like us who drink more than they’re paid.
Despite these less than romantic circumstances and an environment that consisted mostly of fighting off drunken locals (which was often ourselves), Sarah and I hit it off, developing a fast friendship based off both being extremely loud, brash, and carefree. We found in each other an easy companionship, a rich ability to converse for hours (we’ve all met Sarah…) and a deep comfort in one another’s company, a thread that has run through our relationship from that heady beginning.
Sarah came to visit me in Rome (where I lived, have I told you?) and as you can see from the photo, she’s always managed to put a smile on my face. Eight years of close friendship proceeded, always finding a safe harbour in one another throughout that period until the pandemic created an environment where we were able to see each other (IYKYK) far more regularly. Crossing the boundary from friendship to relationship (despite our protestations for years that we would never, ew) carried with it the weight of those years, both in terms of a solid foundation but also the risk of crossing that boundary and the potential cost if things hadn’t worked out. It’s safe to say that the gamble paid off.
Our relationship since then has been categorised by changes, so perhaps it’s been good that we had all that history behind us first. We’re able to be each other’s sounding boards, support structure, comfort, and stress relief and without that we wouldn’t have managed to make the shifts in our lives that we have. Throughout it all though we’ve kept each other laughing, and we believe that the enduring theme of what makes us so happy together is the humour we find in one another.
Twelve years of relationship have led us together to this point, through various twists and turns, to this next chapter that we get to turn the page on with you all. We’re very much looking forward to celebrating with you all and getting to share in some of the love that we have for each other (Sarah cringed at this, but there’s got to be some sickly romance in here right?)
Oh, and there’s also a dog…
