Lindsay and Blake

I met Blake in a falling down whorehouse that’s now a bar. It’s called Ernestine & Hazel’s. It’s on the corner of Main Street in Memphis. They serve soul burgers all day and night. It was a week before Thanksgiving. We talked for a while. The only thing I remember from our conversation was that he said: “I work in cotton.” And I said, “What like a cotton gin?” And he smiled at me. That was the first time I really noticed him even though we’d been talking for a while.
He left a little after midnight and my friend and I left shortly after. As we walked to her car, we saw him about a block ahead of us up the street. “BLAKE,” I shouted. He turned around. He waited for us to catch up.
He suddenly said, “Hey, would you guys want to come to my place for a drink? I just live right up here in the lofts.”
“How do we know you’re not some psycho that’s going to kill us,” I asked.
“I guess you don’t,” he said, “but I’ll tell you now my weak spot is my neck. If you jabbed me in the throat, I would go down in a second.”
We laughed and said alright and followed him to his loft. He concocted several drinks from pear schnapps and brandy and vodka. I settled for a Scotch, same as him. We had a cork fight. He collects corks from wine bottles in two big bowls that sit on the shelf in his kitchen. We found a cork just the other day under the couch from that cork fight. The three of us fell asleep on his bed, Blake in the middle. When I woke up in the morning, he had his arms wrapped tightly around me. Since that night, I have only slept in my bed in Memphis, alone, for one night, while he has been in town.
I can’t say it has been the most typical of loves. I can say I have never felt anything like it. I can’t say it’s been easy. But I can say it is the best thing that has ever happened to me.

Frank and Cassidi

On July 21, 2006, I was working as a bartender for my second 8 hour shift of the day. Because I had already put in a full day's work, I was more easily angered than usual. I was sitting at the end of the bar, eating my dinner, and mentally preparing myself for the usual harrassment that happened every night I worked when he walked in with his friends. As soon as I saw him, I was immediately attracted to him. I got the butterflies in my stomach and was all embarrassed like a little school girl. When I went over to their table to take their drink order, the hoots and hollers started. I told the boys that I wasn't taking any bull that evening, and if they wanted to have a pleasant evening they could stay, but if they were looking for any trouble they needed to leave. So, he told me they would behave, and our first meeting started to take place. Throughout the evening there was constant conversation between us. We played a game where questions are thrown back and forth at each other, and true answers must be given. Also, there weren't allowed to be any repeat questions from the next person. We both learned many things about each other very quickly. For instance, we both found out that we could have possibly met on two other occasions, where we were in the same place at the same time. The first would have been when he was in college taking summer classes and I was visiting his college (still in high school) for a summer camp. The other time was earlier that summer at a Dave Matthews concert. There was definitely sparks from the beginning. As the night wore on, his friends were finally calling it a night, and he told me that he wanted my phone number. I refused, telling him that I never give my phone number to guys I meet at work. He then had the audacity to ask me if he could stay and help me clean up and then I could take him back to his friends house. Of course I denied this! Why in the world would I be alone in the wee hours of the morning, in an empty bar, with a man I don't know! So he paid the tab with a credit card, and when I took the slip from him, there was a piece of paper with it that had his name and phone number on it. Of course I was very excited, and fought the urge to call him on my way home. The next morning, I texted him, asking him if he remembered giving the bartender his phone number. He said he was very aware of his actions the night before, and we texted all day (because I was, of course, at my other job). So on Sunday, I let him take me out on our first date. I brought a friend, and he brought a friend, and he and I completely ignored our friends. We went to the movies (I don't remember any of the movie, I was completely infatuated by him...with his arm around me.) and then to dinner (I was so nervous I could only choke down a bowl of soup). As he was dropping me off in front of my mother's house at the end of the night, the bold man that he is, he asked me if I wanted him to kiss me next to his car, or on my doorstep. Because he told me that either way, he was GOING to kiss me. I had no choice. So, as flustered as I was, I leaned in and kissed him. Next to his car. With our ignored-all-night friends feeling awkward standing behind us. I just remember thinking to myself, "He has the best lips..."

So fast forward three years later. Two years of a long distance relationship (3 hrs apart). Only seeing each other on weekends. Talking until the wee hours of the morning when we weren't together. Holding each other as tight as possible on those nights when we were together. Then this past year, he bought a house for us to live in. Together. We have a puppy. And he is my best friend, my lover, my companion. He is my everything.

Damien and Jian

I met Jian last summer; we exchanged numbers and emails, started to open up ourselves to one another and went on a few dates. We got close. I was having a rough time at the start of this year, she helped me through it.
I was always looking forward to getting married again. I thought: she enjoys my company and encourages my filmmaking dreams, she would make a perfect wife - so I popped the question at a friend's concert. She thought about it, said yes, and we both argeed that we didn't want a big event, we picked a date without telling too many people.
She's smart, beautiful on the inside and out.
She has her career and I have mine; I know that she is the one for me and I am happy.

Damien and Jian were married March 27th, 2009.