A chance meeting in Sydney in December 2016 led to the couple you know today. We sat down to reminisce on our first few days together.
Emily: Okay, let’s see if we have the same recollection of how we met.
Sam: (Smiling) Let’s do it.
Emily: What is your first memory of us?
Sam: I vaguely remember meeting you in Chargrill Charlie’s Chicken Shop in Sydney. I was picking up a group of American friends and you were with them. But my first memory of really noticing you was later that same day, sitting at the kitchen table of the AirBnB you were staying in.
Emily: (Interrupting) So, wait, hold on here. You have no real memory of us first meeting?
Sam: I remember a bit. But what I remember most is playing that drinking game at the house. Though you weren’t really playing. I remember really wanting you to join the game so I could flirt with you. You piqued my interest.
Emily: (Laughing) so you could flirt with me?
Sam: Yes, and you were just not interested and that made me more curious about who you were and why you were too cool to play.
Emily: Pshhhhh.
Sam: What’s your memory?
Emily: Well, I vividly remember meeting you in Chargrill Charlie’s. I remember you walking in, shaking my hand, and saying, “Hi, I’m Sam.” Truthfully, you had me right then and there.
Sam: (Smiling) Really?
Emily: Really! But, wait. We should probably back up a bit here. How did the two of us, born in different continents and living in different cities end up in the same chicken shop that day in Sydney in December 2016?
Sam: Well, I was living in Chicago at the time, but back home in Sydney visiting family and attending a couple of weddings. Some of my Chicago friends were also in Sydney at that time to go to the weddings. So I made an effort whilst down there to show them around. Which is how I ended up at the chicken shop that night, picking up a group of Americans that you happened to be in. How did you get there?
Emily: I was living in New York at the time and made a last-minute decision to join one of my friends from college, Alli, on her trip to Australia. She and two of her friends/co-workers (shout out to Jane + Naseem) all lived in Chicago and had planned the trip down under months prior. Our friend Maddy and I booked tickets to join in just weeks before. To say we five girls had the trip of a lifetime that year would be an understatement.
Sam: Would you say that was the best impromptu trip you’ve ever done?
Emily: Oh yeah. Little did I know when I got on that flight that my life was going to change forever.
Sam: So we met that day in the Chicken Shop and went back with the American crew to the house, where you were a bit coy.
Emily: I was not being coy.
Sam: (Rolling his eyes) Okay, so the next day, I remember we came back to that same house after the wedding and you were asleep, I think?
Emily: Yeah, most of the people staying at the house went to the wedding, but a few of us girls stayed in and had an early night. Fortunately, the wedding crew came back for an afterparty. I was soundly sleeping only to be awoken by Naseem literally shaking me saying, “Heckels! You have to get up! Sam is here. He’s in a suit. And he looks good. You need to get your butt downstairs!.”
(Sam is laughing)
Emily: She and I went back and forth for what felt like 20 minutes. I had no intention of getting out of bed, but she would not give up. (Laughing) Looking back, I’m forever grateful for her persistence that night.
Sam: Wow.
Emily: Well, that night really set everything in motion. I got out of bed, we all hung out and made plans for the next day.
Sam: Yeah, the next day we ended up at my local beer garden, The Sheaf. Your girlfriends decided to head to the bar while you and I hung back at one of the tables talking. I remember we were having a conversation and you asked me, “Do you think humans are inherently good or inherently bad?” This is the moment I knew I was into you. I remember thinking, “Wow, that’s very thoughtful and not your usual chitty-chatty small talk type stuff.” I knew at that point during our conversation that you cared deeply about things which struck me as a really great quality. And then we chatted the entire afternoon.
Emily: We really couldn’t stop chatting. We ended up going for a swim later that afternoon and then headed back the Sheaf later that night dancing ‘til the bar closed.
Sam: Yes and after it closed, we went for a walk down to the beach.
Emily: Yeah because I convinced you to come with me down to the water. At this point, what were you thinking?
Sam: I was all signed up, but I couldn’t find the right sort of moment to kiss you. So we went for the walk, we sat on a bench and then you insisted we lay in the sand and look at the stars.
(Emily is laughing)
Sam: You now know sand is one of my top 10 hated things in the world.
Emily: (Still laughing) Now that I know you, I can’t believe you did that.
Sam: It was also night time, so the mosquitoes were out in full force and we were basically getting eaten alive.
Emily: Yeah I woke up with a whole lot of bug bites that next morning. Not my best idea.
Sam: We started to make our way back to get you a ride home. Before we got too close to the main road, I stopped, pulled you back and said, “Wait, before we go any further…” and I kissed you.
Emily: Annnnnd mission accomplished!
Sam: Yeah, mission accomplished and then for the next five days, we were inseparable.
Emily: Yeah, we really were. We spent our days driving around Sydney, checking out beautiful lookout spots and eating tasty food.
Sam: That was such a great few days. Then it turned out we were flying back to the U.S. on the same day around the same time. I remember we said goodbye at the airport - me heading back to Chicago and you heading home to New York.
Emily: At that point, did you know you were going to come to see me in New York?
Sam: Oh yeah, I knew.
Emily: You did? Oh man. I got on that plane thinking, “What if I never see this guy again?”
Sam: (Laughing) Well you definitely saw me again. I was in New York with you two weeks later.
Emily: And two weeks after that I was in Chicago.After 52 flights between New York and Chicago, Emily finally made the move to the Midwest in 2018. They were engaged a year later. Clearly not having been through enough air travel, they've committed to exploring the world together, forever.