He was the new marketing hire at the firm where I was a junior architect. By most conventional standards, Brian might have been called “unattractive.”

He possessed a certain endearing clumsiness, a wonderfully crooked smile, and a persistent habit of wearing socks that never matched.

What truly made him stand out that first day, however, was the suit he wore—a garment at least two sizes too large for him. I couldn’t stifle my laughter.

He turned a brilliant shade of red and explained, “It was laundry day. I had to borrow my dad’s.”

“Clearly,” I replied, my smile genuine.

That single interaction was the beginning of everything. We became inseparable from that moment on.

Brian and I dated for four