Love wasn’t the first thing on Josiah’s mind while training to be a Flight Attendant, but along his several weeks of Delta training he met Taylor. Taylor, for his part, was anxiously awaiting their first date and had planned to meet up at a restaurant just a short walk from his apartment. When he saw Josiah he knew he’d come across someone great. That first dinner turned to drinks around a fire, then the important moment from Josiah of trying to find a secluded spot at the end of their date to give Taylor a kiss.
Josiah and Taylor always say their second date is the one where they truly fell in love though. It was filled with hiking, dinner, slow dancing in the street, and leaning along the backside of Taylor’s car talking for hours. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, a meter maid wrote Taylor a parking ticket. Josiah paid the fee because he wasn’t going to have someone ruin what was a truly incredible night.
Over the next six weeks, Josiah and Taylor went on eleven dates as Josiah evacuated airplanes by day and was going all over Atlanta with Taylor by night. When Josiah graduated from Delta training they agreed to give long distance a shot. And so, for over a year Josiah flew back and forth between his apartment in Cincinnati, his base airport in Detroit and Taylor’s apartment in Atlanta. This arrangement came to a bittersweet end when Josiah moved into Taylor’s apartment for a six-week quarantine at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve effectively lived together ever since.
Through lockdown baking lessons, backyard bonfires, and the gradual return of travel Josiah and Taylor’s families and friends meshed. They learned to love each other through their shared community and made as many trips to visit people as the pandemic would allow. When Taylor finally got his flight benefits, they adventured all around the country from Kona, Hawaii to Boston, Massachusetts, and everywhere in between whenever Delta had seats available.
As an early celebration of their third anniversary, and Taylor’s graduation from graduate school, the two left Atlanta for a week in London just before Christmas 2021. Through careful coordination and the saintly patience of friends on both sides of the pond they pulled of a joint proposal at Leadenhall Market in central London.
Taylor gave Josiah the Golden Snitch ring he’d been eyeing for years. The ring was important for Josiah because in the Harry Potter novels the Golden Snitch will only open for the one who caught it. It’s bound to that one person for life. It’s an important fit for a romance like theirs. Taylor’s ring is based on another novel close to their hearts. A few months into their relationship as Taylor and Josiah read How to Repair a Mechanical Heart by J.C. Lillis, it became a story they shared together. Ever since, Josiah has called Taylor “Tinman,” referencing the story, so it seemed only fitting Josiah had the nickname etched into a silver band containing Taylor’s birth stone contained in a mechanical heart shaped box.
Two rings cut from novels they both love dearly seemed a perfect fit for a love that at times feels like something cut out of a storybook. And now the story goes on as the prepare for the next chapter of their adventure together…
This post first appeared on our wedding website, but I wanted to share it here so I have a copy saved for posterity. And also because its just adorable.