Year Twelve

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2022 to 2023

The most recent year of our relationship was also one of the busiest. In September 2022, I went with Marcie’s family on a trip to Vancouver. In January 2023, Marcie surprised ⋆₊⁺⋆ ♡ me ♡ ⋆⁺₊⋆ with a marriage proposal. Because I was already married to my dissertation, I decided to divorce it: in March, I defended my project and earned my PhD. (Marcie is still married to her short film, but she promises that she’ll finish it before the day of our ceremony.) Over the past few months, Marcie and I have visited a friend in London, gone hiking in the Great Smoky Mountains, and spent a long time planning our wedding. I’ve said plenty about us already, so I’ll close with one of my favorite quotes from Cicero: “Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consenter adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.”

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Vancouver

T T OOOOO T T

Please I cannot write more captions

I take the time to network with a Canadian graduate student.

We saw two dead seals and zero living ones in the dazzling Vancouver Harbor.

Jordan and I finished this sushi platter in two minutes on his birthday. I look genuinely unwell because Marcie loves to use the fisheye lens.

We identify the perfect spot for a new strip mall.

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Minnesota

I propound the virtues of hereditary monarchy at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival.

I visited the Oink Booth. Learn more at www.mnpork.com.

Marcie scares away the children on this children’s playground.

I complete my long transformation from human into bee.

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England

At Hampton Court, Marcie regrets her decision to propose to me after she learns that King Henry VIII is once again single and looking for love.

February 2023: we eat lunch with our friend Meghan in Cambridge

My girlfriend flexes her muscles. Marcie is also in the picture.

I assume my rightful place within the hierarchy of angels (before their majesty, I am the lowest of the low).

Disgusted, I shake my head at this city, a shameless rip-off of Charles Dickens’s fictional metropolis, “London.”

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Tennessee

We prepare to cross state lines in a car that we do not own.

ML: Me looking happy and cute :-)

Marcie takes a break while hiking the Chimney Tops Trail.

I dismember a defenseless rotisserie chicken with my bare hands at Dolly Parton’s Stampede.

We contemplate the fragility of human endeavor as we look upon the sublime sprawl of God’s boundless creation (we were tired after hiking to the mountaintop).

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New York City

After working all day on my dissertation, I get in touch with my wild side.

Every art aficionado knows that the pair of circular frames inhabited by creatures above this camel mimic the framing roundels that popularly decorated silk textiles from Islamic Iberia and Byzantium.

ML: Me, admiring this ancient Greek archer's outfit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We live very close to the MET and spend a lot of time here! (Brian didn't want to caption this, but he's not in charge.)

BR (screaming): Marcie, this is a Scythian. S-C-Y-T-H-I-A-N.