We got married! Now we want to celebrate with you!

In the summer of 2018, Nyssa was planning a move to Oregon, and Michael was looking for a second housemate. After initially meeting over Zoom, both decided that the housing arrangement would be a good fit, and Nyssa made the journey over the mountains. Nyssa and Michael became good friends, going to see lots of music and hanging out on plenty of "friend dates". Feelings were growing on both sides, but being cautious and not wanting to ruin a great friendship, both kept it to themselves for about a year and a half. In retrospect, Nyssa thinks Michael made the first move by mailing her a special package while she was away working a summer job, though at the time she was in denial that this was any kind of “move”. Before leaving for this summer job, Michael and Nyssa had started a great garden together. They grew many things, including watermelons, and both were puzzled over how to know when a watermelon was truly “ripe”. After doing some research, they learned that ripeness factors included weight, color, and possibly smell, so they started weighing the watermelon and kept track of its weight on a shared chalkboard. Nyssa had to leave before the watermelon was ripe, but Michael continued to weigh it and dutifully kept up the records on the chalkboard. When the time was right, he picked it and sent it off in the mail to Nyssa with an accompanying poem. Nyssa only saw it as a funny and charming gesture at the time, rather than Michael's not-so-subtle hint at his true feelings. It wasn’t until the end of that year, on Dec. 8th 2019 when things changed. They went to see some of their favorite musicians play from their new album ‘Buried in a Cape’ - which ended up being one of their favorite shows they've seen to date. They started the night as friends, yet thinking it felt a lot like a date. As the night went on their reservations about crossing boundaries finally crumbled and both realized they were on one of the best dates of their lives. Since then they'e lived in three different states together (Oregon, California, and Washington), and had many fun road trips and backpacking adventures. They've now settled in the PNW in the heart of Skagit Valley.