Casey: It all began on a fateful December evening in Florence, Italy. Casey was nestled by the fire in the study of an ancient Florentine mansion, reading War and Peace while creating new algebraic formulas. She was sipping on tea and enjoying a peaceful night. As luck would have it, Gregory stumbled upon the very same Florentine mansion! Except of course he was there to compose a brief symphony, Skype with the head of national security, and maybe perhaps even write some poetry.
Greg: Hmm, no. This is not quite right. As I recall, I had come by way of the fine establishment so as to indulge in a fine scotch and to fawn over my favorite under-linings from Hemingway. When I walked into the bar - by jove - I noticed this beautiful young lady in the parlor! Making a quick decision on how best to play on this lucky situation I had found myself in, I twirled the hair on my muttonchops and approached the young lass!
Greg: Okay no muttonchops, but she was the first thing I noticed when I walked in. I forget who spoke first but we both smiled at each other before anything was said. After the regular pleasantries we spoke about how we both found ourselves in Florence. It was at this time I disclosed that although I was currently just visiting for the week, I had been a long time aficionado of the city since my Army days of being stationed in Italy.
Greg: I guess sometimes I might get carried away with my rants, but she should have felt lucky, some people pay tens of thousands of dollars a year to have such wisdom imparted upon them.....
Casey: If by "wisdom" you mean "the best beer on tap at Lion's Fountain" then sure. Anyway, I ended up convincing Greg that he needed to study at the school I was currently attending, Lorenzo de Medici. This was only the beginning of my life-long career of telling Greg what to do.
Casey: You wish! I didn't even have your phone number. He actually would find reasons to send me messages, "casually asking" about the enrollment process. As fate would have it, we both ended up back in our beloved Florence, in the fall of 2011. Where I immediately began harassing him about finding an apartment, instead of sleeping on the couch of our friend, Tyler Poggi©. (Tyler is kind of a big deal, so we needed to copyright his name).
Casey: He will tell this story over and over again, but the truth is - I did NOT stand him up. This was actually only the beginning of Greg's realization that he has problems communicating in the English language. Anyway, after arriving at our local pub, I saw Greg, as I assumed I would, since he had told me "he might be there later on for a few drinks, maybe see you there". He looked a little upset as he explained that I was late. This was my first hint that he might, possibly, have a little crush on me. Either that or he was very punctual. (Ha...ha...ha...ha....ha). Again, I shrugged it off. Until the very next night, when he finally confirmed my suspicions and (Grandma stop reading) he got up the nerve to kiss me! There were fireworks and the people of Florence started singing joyously in the streets!
Casey: Aw! It really was the perfect moment. Okay, enough of the mush - we're either a) putting everyone to sleep or b) making them want to projectile vomit. Suffice to say, that kiss was how it all began - and we've literally never looked back since then.