The Meeting

It all began at a hotel in River North, Chicago, IL. It was April 2019 and Keysha Taylor had just started as Room Operations Manager. Brendan was the long-suffering Director of Revenue

In their first encounter, Keysha remembers Brendan introducing himself without actually introducing himself. As her coworkers warned, he was very awkward and a total dork. Despite her best efforts, as the months drew on, Keysha developed a work crush on this dork.

As 2019 drew to a close, Keysha left FieldHouse Jones, ready to finally put hospitality behind her. At her going away outing with a few coworkers, Keysha made the move on Brendan and, to her luck, he reciprocated!

2020 was off to a hot and fast start. Then March 2020 happened.. Lockdown was enforced and the two found themselves sheltering in place,separately, thereby destroying a chance for the just budding romance to bloom.

The Separation

Throughout 2020, Brendan and Keysha kept in touch with the occasional text message. Keysha secured a job as a payroll consultant in Pittsburgh, PA. Brendan stayed in his beloved city and went back to lawyering for a living.

From time to time, Keysha would visit Brendan in Chicago and Brendan would visit Keysha in Pittsburgh. However, the two knew that long distance relationships were strenuous, at best.

The Baby

Soon after Keysha returned home from one of these trips visiting Brendan, she realized she brought a gift back to Pittsburgh - she was preggo! With much consideration, Keysha decided to return to Chicago to raise the child with Brendan. Breaking away from tradition, both were excited to start a family at warp speed.

Keysha said goodbye to her job, friends, and life in Pittsburgh and made the move to Chicago. On March 16, 2023, the two met their one and only; naming her Blake Taylor Bauman.

The Proposal

Brendan and Keysha were busy taking care of a newborn. They still managed to have some fun along the way. They visited family in Scottsdale, AZ and Philadelphia, PA. They celebrated their first Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Blake even got a chance to celebrate both Juneteenth and Independence Day. For Brendan’s birthday in June, the family celebrated with friends at a local brewery in Chicago. For Keysha’s birthday in August, Brendan asked for her hand in marriage.

Thus changing the nursery rhyme:

First comes love,

Then comes the baby

In the baby carriage.

And then comes marriage!

K&B