“It felt empowering,” Brian says about being married. “I feel less self-conscious about putting my arm around his waist as we’re walking down the street. Getting it on paper adds a legitimacy I guess, that’s one way to put it, that I’ve never considered before. I can hold my head a little higher that my relationship is just as valid as everyone else’s.”
Brian Cahill, who is a software engineer with a defense contractor, and Mike Cahill, a metrics specialist at the blood bank, met in 1997 while Brian was traveling to Little Rock Air Force Base to deliver a simulator he helped develop. Brian had a couple—Tony and Denise—who he was friends with that lived in Little Rock, Ark. Little did he know when he went to visit them, he’d run into their neighbor—Mike.
“He came over to use their washing machine, and we were driven to distraction just being in the same room,” Brian recalls. “It was kind of a love at first sight situation for us. Within two months of meeting, Mike had moved to Florida to be with me.”
Mike says he was a little more withdrawn back then. He found Brian to be very attractive, but he wasn’t someone who would say something. Before Brian’s last trip, Tony and Denise spoke with both men separately and told them how both their feelings were mutual.
“In the end of October, I packed up everything and moved to Florida,” Mike says. “We did not move in together. I got my own apartment; Brian had his own place. For the first year, we lived separately just to make sure what we had was real and didn’t make any sudden decisions. At the end of the year, we bought and live in the current home that we’ve been in ever since.
“In the beginning, when you’re used to living by yourself, and you have to make room for another individual, it’s an adjustment period. You want things a certain way, and the other individual wants things another way. You really have to learn to give and take and talk and cry and laugh and yell.”
A couple years ago, Brian’s mother became ill with ovarian cancer, so the couple put their life on hold for a year and a half to care for her. Eventually, they had to put her in a nursing home. They were there every day for her. She passed away in April, and they got beyond that. Now that they could re-focus on themselves, they started thinking about getting married on their 20th anniversary.
“Because of the presidential election, we decided because of the uncertainty of what was going to happen next year, and with the Supreme Court justice [seat] empty, we decided to get married,” Mike says.
The Wednesday after the election, they decided to both leave work to get married.
“I told my boss I was leaving work – I was going to get my marriage license,” Mike says. “She was supportive and told me to go, and we did.”
“It’s nice that we’re legally married,” Mike says. “I can honestly say that I feel different than just living together – it feels more real. There’s a real commitment to what we have.”
YEARS TOGETHER: 19 years
ENGAGEMENT DATE: November 9, 2016
WEDDING DATE: November 16, 2016
WEDDING VENUE: Seminole County Courthouse
WEDDING PLANNER: Brina Norman
WEDDING CATERER: Another Broken Egg Café in Heathrow
WEDDING COLORS: Purple and blue
OUR SONG: “How Do I Live” by LeAnn Rimes
INTERESTING FACT: Brian was visiting friends in Arkansas when he met Mike, who came over to use his next-door neighbors’ washing machine.
You must be logged in to post a comment.