Our Story
We have lots of stories...and we like to tell them!
how we met
Stacy's version.
I had seen Bernhardt around Chicago months before we actually met, but his first and second impressions were hardly top-notch:). One day in June 2005 my friend Marissa called me up and said, "come swimming with me at the Bucktown park pool" and I said, "ok". I got up bright and early (7am was WAY early for me back then) and when I got there, she was with Bernhardt. I thought he was really handsome and funny...I also thought it was cool he rode his bike around everywhere. He was going through a phase of wearing fantastic summer plaid shirts with golden thread and he had vintage swim-trunks...he was a dreamboat.
The three of us (me, B, Marissa) continued swimming together that summer. One day, Marissa couldn't come to the pool but Bernhardt called and asked me to swim with him anyway. We ended up swimming, hanging out, and going to dinner at a Thai restaurant that is now OUR place. I was going through a phase of carrying a moleskin notebook and a rhyming dictionary with me all the time. At dinner that night, we giggled and wrote a song in my notebook (I still have it).
I left for Hawaii that next week and while there, I missed my new friend Bernhardt SO much. We text messaged the entire trip (it's cheaper than calling) and when I got back, he was the first person over at my house for pineapple and Kona coffee (honestly, a gross combination together - he never complained). For the rest of the summer, we were inseparable. We ate pizza, went to the drive-in, made each other crafts, laughed a lot, learned accordion, and watched Batman together [Bern bought snacks for that night...PEZ and Cool Ranch Doritos...what a BOY]. We were best friends.
About a month later, he finally got the courage to tell me he liked me...we were on the porch of what is now our apartment...sitting in the hammock...listening to Tiny Tim records...admiring the summer sky after a nice dinner...and he told me he liked me. I said I liked him too. We decided to make our relationship official and he became my boyfriend. Now he is my fiance...and I LIKE it.
Bern's story
The first time I saw Stacy was in a musical of my friends she was in, she played Captain Kirk. On stage she had the same confident walk she has now when she doesn’t know where she is going but it is sure cute to see her so sure of herself. Then I met her at the pool she was all smiles literally that is all I saw, a big grin. We talked and laughed and had a great time despite the fact that we were swimming laps. Later I invited her over to my house for some meatballs my Nani had made (none of my friends eat meat). All of a sudden we were best friends I’d call her when I was bored at work and vice versa or surprise visit her at J Crew (I told her that the “J” stands for Jethro), I even went so far as to invite myself to Charleston with her. After some time and much confusion later we finally started dating and what was once in separable became unbreakable.
I look back at that summer now as one of the best in my life, especially after seeing where I am today and where we are headed. Stacy is my best friend, the love of my life and my back up should I ever need it. She’s the laughter when the room goes silent, and the sunshine on my cloudy days. I love that girl and am going to marry her.
