A couple’s journey to find each other’s player two

Hours of laughing, cuddling and video games sum up the first date for one South Dakota State University couple. 

SDSU professors, Brian and Rebecca Britt, have been married for more than three years. For their first date, they recalled countless hours of playing video games together. “That’s when we knew,” Rebecca said.

When it comes to types of video games, they don’t have a preference. They currently own everything from shooting to racing and even fighting games.

“We’re kind of dorky,” the couple said. “We actually attended the midnight premiere of Star Wars.”

Their story began during graduate school at Purdue University when obtaining their PhDs. They didn’t interact much until Feb. 20 at an event held by their graduate student association. 

It took place in a local restaurant where, “We were assigned to sit by each other,” Brian said. “We found out we had a lot in common. We actually talked for four hours after everyone left.”

A few years later, they began planning their wedding. But since Rebecca was working on her dissertation, Brian handled much of the initial planning, like finding venues, picking the band and planning seating arrangements.

“He’s the romantic one,” Rebecca said. “He had a lot of fun with it.”

Now, in their second year of teaching at SDSU, their offices are only a few doors down from each other in Yeager Hall. However, that doesn’t mean they see each other every day. 

“I really don’t spend any time with him on campus,” Rebecca said. “I really like my independence and doing things on my own.” 

When they are on campus, Brian said,“We are just two professors. Honestly, that’s how it should be.”

Though they work together, they explained how they don’t like to bring work home. 

“We keep home at home and work at work,” Brian said. 

Keeping a positive environment at home and leaving the stress at work is important to them. Rebecca said this separation has helped them and is a strategy they will likely continue for years to come.

They will be celebrating not only Valentine’s Day but also the anniversary of when they first met. 

“We have two romantic dates within six days of each other,” Brian said.

If it’s anything like last year, Brian will surprise Rebecca with a bouquet of flowers on her desk followed by a romantic dinner at their favorite restaurant in Brookings, Flavor.

Whether they visit a nice restaurant, play video games or watch Star Wars, the couple said they’ll be happy simply being together.