So there we were, two nerds, locked in an age-old battle of who was right and who was insisting on a regnal number. Just your classic love story…

1987

Charlotte and Rob are both born. Clearly, it’s an exciting year.

The Interim Years

They do that life stuff. They each have 3 sisters (his all younger, hers all older) and get to grow up making stories, sharing adventures with their siblings, and reading with flashlights long after they were meant to be asleep.

They both go off to college – him to study sophistry at St. John’s College, her to argue with architects instead of philosophers at Virginia Tech and SCAD – and find fun ways to be active: tennis, soccer, dance, basketball, rock climbing, you name it, one of them has likely done it (note: if it involves hand-eye coordination, we’re talking about Rob.). Eventually life and work bring them both to Washington DC, where…

2023

Our heroes meet. It’s sometime in the fall of the year, and no one yet knows that they’re falling as two strangers argue pedantically at the host stand of Big Bear Cafe’s weekly trivia night. Weeks later, Charlotte decides it’s time to host a housewarming party. While inviting her trivia team, the question is raised:

“Did you invite the hosts?”

“No. Do we know them?”

“I mean, I think we’d like to…”

So, the hosts came to the party. Friends were immediately made and the night ended with a long conversation on the couch: places they’d traveled, stories they’ve laughed at, the families they delighted in growing up within, maybe even a little Calvin and Hobbes. They said their good-nights and see-you-next-weeks. Rob will later admit that he walked home that night with some guesses as to where this story could go.

2024

The debates over minutiae continue; Charlotte’s friends regularly send her to argue the team’s point because both people seem to enjoy it just a bit more than they admit.

Fast forward to December 1^st, and Rob has offered his apartment to Charlotte and her cat, Ping, to stay in while he’s traveling abroad with his family because her apartment has (totally not suspiciously) flooded. Charlotte picks him up from the airport, lets him get settled in, and tells him it’s time he asked her out.

“Yes,” says Rob.

Later in December, the two are trying to introduce their cats to one another while talking through The Big Questions – because let’s be honest, this thing seems like it might just be so good it has to last, so they might as well get the hard stuff sorted. Charlotte tells Rob that she doesn’t just dream of moving to Ireland, she’s been actively applying for work there and will go. Rob just laughs – he’s been looking for jobs there too. He warns her:

“You need to be ready. You’re going to get an offer before you’re ready for it.”

She laughs. “And why is that?”

“That’s just how my luck works. It’s going to happen for you soon.”

2025

In April, the two of them sneak off to Dublin for Charlotte’s (correctly prophesied) interview. Rob interviews with a company in Cork from the hotel room and they meet up at a pub to discuss how both went. The next day, Charlotte learns she got the job. (Rob’s luck doesn’t work for him like that.)

All too soon, it’s June and the three of them are on a plane, the two humans excited and Ping in his carrier against his will. After they land, they wait outside their locked flat in the gentle Irish summer rain for the keys to their new home across the ocean. It’s been six months since Rob worked up the courage to let Charlotte tell him to ask her out. The neighbors welcome them, take them in until the keys arrive, and add them to the neighborhood group chat. They warn that the postal delivery here is different, and they are right.

By September, Rob finally has a job, a work permit, and his proper place by Charlotte’s side in Dublin. They begin exploring their new home, taking weekend adventures through Glendalough, down into the Wicklow Mountains, and driving out to Sligo for a used bike (and some craic along the way).

After hosting Thanksgiving for their neighbors, they’re ready to get back to the States and see all of their families – his, hers, and their shared one, made up of great friends around DC. They fly home for Christmas and New Year’s, packing too many plans into just two weeks.

They finally slip away for dinner. Just the two of them, after a day packed with family members, moving, and all kinds of craziness. They sit down at the place where she made reservations (thanks to his mom’s thoughtful Christmas gift card) and just relax. Okay, maybe only one of them truly relaxes…

Dessert comes, including a suspicious container that simply reads,

“Dibs.”

It sparkles when opened.

“Yes.” says Charlotte.

(Reader, what she actually said was, “I’m going to marry the shit out of you”, but that doesn’t fit the format as well.)

2026

They go back to Dublin after a NYE celebration packed with friends and family. They revel in their newly engaged life and begin planning a wedding. They could have it in DC, they could have it in Dublin, or they could find somewhere really special. They find Belleek Castle where a strange man offers to show Rob swords.

The planning begins in earnest (importantly).

2027

It’s July and they’ve brought their beloved families and friends together. Everyone will get to visit the stunning land in which they now live and will meet up at Belleek Castle to celebrate long into the evening.

Like they do sickeningly often, our heroes will simply look at one another and say,

“Dibs.”