How We Met

In January of 2002, seeking to escape the horrific cold of a New England winter, the Brown University Chorus fled Providence to tour Costa Rica.  Along on the trip were two individuals who little realized that their lives were about to change forever: Sam Brenner, a mild-mannered History graduate student from Massachusetts worrying about his Doctoral Preliminary Exams in five months, and Claudia Arno, a dedicated and beautiful Classicist undergraduate at Brown not yet worrying about Sam's preliminary exams.

We join our cast somewhere over North America . . .

Sam seated himself gingerly in the window seat, wondering next to whom he would be sitting.  Looking over, he saw a gorgeous woman walk down the aisle, slide into the seat next to him, and begin reading a book about dead bodies.  Realizing that this was an auspicious omen, Sam asked the woman what she was reading.   "Grave Undertakings," she lithesomely replied.  "But wait," asked Sam. "Is 'lithesomely' really a word?"  Claudia leaned back, smiled, and thought "this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."  Sadly, Sam had not yet seen Casablanca, and so it took several more days for them to start dating.

Seriously: Sam and Claudia were both members of the Brown Chorus.  Due to great luck (and the fact that some of the tickets were assigned alphabetically), Brenner and Arno found themselves next to each other on the plane.  After talking to each other on the way to Costa Rica, it seemed natural to sit together on the bus once they got to San Jose.  Over the next several days, through such hassles as gorgeous weather, blood-warm ocean water, and iced rum drinks, they often found themselves talking.  Again, it seemed only natural that they should sit on the bus together for the hours-long rides over often rough roads.  One day, when Claudia got on the bus slightly late, she found that someone else was seated next to Sam.  Both Sam and Claudia decided that this was all for the good, as they could appear to be more friendly if they talked to others.  Halfway through the ride, however, both realized that they were (a) really unhappy that they weren't sitting together, (b) trying to have a conversation across several rows of seats, and (c) probably doomed - or destined - to spend the rest of their lives together.

The rest, as they say, is History (or, for Claudia, Classics).