How We Met
Joh and I met when we were in our second year of law school at UMD. He was kind of a bro, and I was one of the only people in law school with a lot of tattoos. We initially met through a dear mutual friend (who is now one of my bride’s maids). We really got to know each other while we were both fellows in a Women, Leadership and Equality seminar.
He was contrary and loved to argue, a trait I found intolerable at first, and now find to be one of my favorite things about him.
Joh tried to get me to go out with him for a while before I finally gave in – he always tried to play it cool, but he was painfully obvious in his attempts. He would find excuses to end up in my neighborhood and then ask if I was free for a drink (“where’s a good place to buy shoes in Hampden?” “Where is the best burger in the city” “Funny story, I accidentally ended up on the Avenue, you should probably just come out”).
When I finally did get that drink with him, we ended up talking for hours about every single thing.
We officially started dating during Mardi Gras, on Valentines Day, back in 2015. He tried to flash an older woman for some beads and I realized I was totally jealous.
We’ve been dating for 3 years and I am still so surprised every day by his compassion, tenderness and genuine capacity to love. I am so excited for what our future holds for us!!
how they asked
I have loved the Harry Potter books since I was 11. Though this is not something I tend to widely broadcast, I also love the universe brought to life at Universal Studios. When I found out that I was being sent to Orlando for a week of training as part of my job, I immediately started planning for an evening where I could let my inner child run free in Harry Potter World.
I booked the trip back in August, and told Joh that if he could get the time off (in December) he should come down towards the end of the week and join me.
Flash-forward three months, and he has not made any move to put in a request for time off. Admittedly, I was annoyed by his lackadaisical handling of the situation. But, I am a strong independent woman so I figured I could just go be a wizard by myself.
Flash-forward again, to Thursday December 14th. The last day of my training. I am now facing the reality of spending two more days in Florida alone and considering just changing my flight to come home early and go to work the next day.
Then I get a call from Joh, asking which room I am in. And there he is, as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened.
The next day we wake up bright and early and head to the park, ready to run around like giddy children.
Looking back, all of the signs were there, but I was too excited to notice. He seemed to be guarding his sweater pocket with his life; he wouldn’t let me help take his things in or out of the lockers; he was overly protective of his left side…
After a full day of adventuring, I was ready to call it quits and head back to our hotel.
He grabs me by the hand and says, “wait, I decided I want to buy a wand after all.”
I skeptically agreed to head back inside, wondering why he waited so long to decide to make this purchase.
When suddenly he stops.
I turn around.
There he is, down on one knee in front of Olivander’s wand shop.
Holding a little blue box.
“So you don’t want a wand?” I ask, as my eyes start to fill with happy tears.
“No – I want you to be my wife.”
Taylor and Joh December 15th, 2017
