Ours began the way many good things do here — introduced by family, two names placed side by side before we'd ever spoken a word to each other. There was no chance meeting, no long history to look back on. Just two people, and the quiet hope that this might work.

What we found, in the conversations that followed, was easier than either of us expected. A comfort that didn't need explaining. The sense that we were both walking toward the same thing, even if we were starting as near-strangers.

On the 22nd of August, that became official — garlands exchanged, rings placed on trembling hands, families cheering around us. It wasn't the end of getting to know each other. It was the beginning of doing it properly, for the rest of our lives.