Emotions rose quickly back in 2008 (maybe 2009?), when Jenn and Adam started playing the board game Stratego as a proxy war for their relationship. One game went to Jenn; Another to Adam; And quickly neither could walk away from defeat without an immediate rematch. 
    While in different states during college breaks, they took the game online. When they moved onto the landing on Elizabeth (Adam’s sister’s) staircase for three months, the game got stashed on one of the steps. 
    It’s likely that Stratego made it into a few references in the dozens of letters with stamps from Korea and Togo during their two years long distance, and talks of a rematch might have come up in Barcelona, Peru, China, and Ghana.
    Stratego continued its geographic journey to West Palm Beach, and was invariably the topic of more than a few Brass Ring Conversations (BRC)™.  Whereas some couples build a future  around weddings, houses, kids, and such. Adam

and Jenn, however, relied on what brought them
together in the first place: competition. 
     In early February of 2023, while Adam took Moose out for another wonderful walk, Jenn made her move. Adam returned, sat across from Jenn at the Stratego board, and began arranging his pieces in the Kansas City formation (which prioritizes a diagonal defense of the flag and mobility for the spy piece.) 
       Formation set, he waited for Jenn to play. But Jenn had other plans.

“Wait, switch places with me?” Jenn inquired.
“No, my pieces are prepared for victory,” Adam said. 
“But I want to play red.”
“I’m already red. We can just not play...“
“Switch with me!” Jenn commanded. 

And so Adam did.