Q: Tell us the story of how you met!

A: "In elementary school, I used to sit next to this goofy little boy with bright eyes of green and gold and the finest mushroom cut I’d ever seen. His name was Lee and, together, he and I passed the eighth year of our lives talking, giggling, and enjoying second grade.

We sat next to one another and we invented this game where every day, I would hold up a colored pencil and Lee would come up with a name for the color- it wasn’t turquoise or teal or even aqua; it was aqua juju and it was hilarious. (Disclaimer: Years later it was discovered that Lee is actually color blind so maybe this wasn't a game - maybe it was his reality. Yikes.)...

When I heard that two girls in fifth grade had kissed boys, I decided that I, too, wanted to kiss a boy – I wanted to kiss Lee at recess, but, being eight years old, I quickly learned that kissing a boy can be tricky; boys were often busy playing in the mud and making fart jokes and they were definitely not interested in kissing. Lee and I never got our moment in second grade and we ended up going to different schools the next year.

We didn't see each other again until almost ten years later when we were both working at Wegmans. I was ringing up a customer when I noticed this beautiful tower of a man out of the corner of my eye. He was also an employee and he began sweeping by my register. As soon as my eyes met his limpid pools of chartreuse and honey, I knew he was Lee from second grade. “Hey!" I said, "I think I know you!” And to my surprise (and extreme delight), he smiled and said, “Hey! It’s aqua juju!”

We became fast friends, always talking and laughing, taking work breaks together, and shamelessly flirting in aisles 12-22. One day when I got to work there were whispers from other employees that Lee was going to kiss me in the produce section. I really love fruits and vegetables, but I was not very keen about having my first kiss in a grocery store - especially one I worked in filled with other employees and management and so many customers. He approached me by the carrots, but the kiss didn't happen and Lee ended up moving on.

Over the next ten years, he and I would see each other around and we even went on a date once filled with more conversation and laughter, but when Lee didn't kiss me after hours of flirting and fun, I figured he wasn't interested. He would text me every so often afterward, but I would mostly ignore him; I was pretty busy.

One night as I was getting ready to go on a date with another guy, Lee began blowing up my phone, begging me to go out with him. I felt like I was drowning in his persistent, almost anguished texts. I remember rolling my eyes as his desperation mounted, but then the guy I was supposed to go out with ended up bailing at the last minute and, not wanting to waste a perfect winged liner, I begrudgingly made plans with Lee.

I had extremely low expectations, but somehow, we ended up talking and laughing for hours. We shared grilled cheese sandwiches, wine slushies, and picked up right where we left off in second grade. I still remember smiling so much that my cheeks hurt. It was the best date I had ever been on. Ever.

At the end of the night, Lee walked me to my car and we hugged goodbye. I sat in the driver’s seat for a minute reflecting on the last twenty years I had known this fox of a man and wondering, again, why we hadn't kissed. I did a quick mental review of all the Feminist Theory I had studied and knew what I had to do.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I jumped out of my car and marched to where his was parked. I shot open his driver's side door and he immediately got out looking concerned, but before he could say anything, I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt like I was going to steal his lunch money, heaved myself against him, and attacked his beautiful face with my ravenous mouth.

For one delicious minute, it was all hair and hands and heaving whispers and rasping breaths as I meticulously explored every magical millimeter of his warm, wet mouth with my wanting lips.

Um, but then I started to get reeeeeeeally sweaty so I pulled away, laughed, said "Mmk! Thanks! Bye!” and walked back to my car, leaving him standing mouth agape, staring after me. After that, he was putty in my hands.

All it took was 20 years and one kiss."

Q: When did you know you wanted to spend the rest of your lives together?

A: "Lee and I took a trip to New York City a few summers back and I brought these new, super cute flats that matched everything for the trip. Within twenty minutes of walking in them however, I developed blisters and soon my toes, heels, and lower ankles all began to bleed. We were visiting a sea, air, and space museum by the river so I couldn't just pop into a store and buy a better pair of shoes. Also, Lee had been wanting to visit The Intrepid since he was a kid. I downplayed my discomfort, but after a while I was literally limping around; each step became increasingly painful. Seeing my pain, Lee ignored all my protests and piggybacked me out of the museum (we hadn't even been there a full hour), gave me a foot massage, hailed a cab, and brought me into the nearest store where bought me a beautiful pair of comfort sandals. My feet felt like they had just been hugged by clouds. He went out of his way to take care of me and put my comfort above everything else."

Q: What are you looking forward to most in your future together?

A: "More laughter and more love. It's been a wild year, but dealing with threats of WWIII, a global pandemic, economic collapse, murder bees, etc. has taught us to be grateful for every single thing we have and to find joy in the little things. He is always making me laugh and making me feel loved."

Q: What's your ideal date night together?

A: "In this new, post-COVID world, I've found that my favorite nights involving us cooking and laughing together and sitting outside."

Q: Anything else you'd like to share??

A: "I'm a really lucky lady."