It's corny, but it's true. Some days feel so mundane and then over the course of that day you meet the person that will irrevocably change the direction of the rest of your life. For us, one of those days was February 10th, 2018. That morning, Chris was in Antigonish visiting some friends for a college residence hockey game at StFX. Chris knew that this would likely be the last time he would make the journey to Antigonish to celebrate with friends, as their degrees were only a few months away now. Nadine, on her end, was heading over to her friends' house, ready to celebrate the last hockey game of their undergraduate career. Romance was one of the last things on her mind - today was about making memories with friends. Neither could have possibly known at the time that that one cool February morning would bring them to a warm afternoon, across the ocean, eight years later in August.

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It started simply enough, with casual conversation among friends. Chris's interjections gaining Nadine's attention. A hushed conversation in the apartment bathroom between Nadine and Rachel : "Is it just me or is that friend of Tyler's really cute?" Most monumentally, though, a strategic move on Chris's part... Nadine had forgotten a bag to carry her drinks to the party, and he chivalrously offered some spare space in his own backpack. This led to an afternoon of frequent interactions - she needed to retrieve her drinks, after all - eventually becoming a charming conversation in a quiet corner that was immortalized by Kelsey's Instax. The conversation lasted beyond that party, well into the wee hours of the morning, on the couch where the day before had begun. Nadine dated the Polaroid the next morning, despite it not being something she typically did with such photos... Perhaps she felt something then she had yet to fully understand.

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Chris wasn't convinced that Nadine had more than friendly intentions, and the first interactions following the party were limited to likes on social media. Nadine, however, was not afraid to fan the spark into a flame. Once she braved the possibility of rejection and reached out herself, the rest was history. Conversation flowed endlessly, from waking to resting their heads, for months. Despite the distance, the delved into each other's inner worlds via Facetime, learning one another's many particularities : for instance, realizing they both prefer a donair pizza with no onion or tomato, or how their preferences of white vs. dark meat meant splitting a rotisserie chicken would be a breeze. It was four months after their first encounter that, to ease the tears brought on by the Red Wedding, that Chris asked Nadine to be his girlfriend, over one of countless Facetime calls. 

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As the time came to decide on the next steps of her life, Nadine had been between moving to Halifax or Ottawa to begin officially adulting. Now, the choice felt much more obvious. By the first leaves falling, she was established in the North End, living in an apartment with three other roommates. That said, by the pandemic, Austin lovingly referred to Nadine as the fifth roommate in his place with Chris, Grayson and Matt. The couple spent much time together: becoming friends with each other's friends, getting to know one another's families, experiencing great things and celebrating accomplishments together as well as navigating the trickier parts of merging two lives. 

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August 22nd, 2026 will be a day to celebrate this love story, as Chris and Nadine invite their loved ones to gather in honour of this life they have fostered and cherished for the last eight years blossoming into something to last a lifetime.