In the heart of the Big Apple and over four-thousand miles from her home on the Big Island was Camille, an ethical fashion NYU student, set on positively impacting the planet. 2017 winter finals week weighed on Camille. There was little that could distract her save for maybe the resident bodega cat…or any social media cat content for that matter. A few miles away in Brooklyn was Mike who was also four-thousand miles from his home of Oahu. Both learned of the other on Tinder. Mike, like Camille, shared a love for running NYC races and a love for cats! Both swiped right on the other’s photos and the words "It's a match" lit up their screens. They messaged for the next few days and wit-filled exchanges filled them both with laughter. Their first meeting would wait for Camille’s fall semester to end and for Mike to return from a trip to Hawaii. Although Mike was thousands of miles away basking on Oahu’s North Shore, Camille occupied his mind. And to Mike, Camille was certainly jealous of his trip to THE best Hawaiian island (😉) while she endured a NY winter. Mike returned to NYC and the two had their first date in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Weary of this island boy, Camille made plans with friends for later, setting their first date to be short. Camille's skepticism chipped away when Mike gifted her li hing mui snacks from the islands. It's hard to say definitively if it was the thought of these ‘ono treats he brought that would completely dissolve Camille's skepticism or the smiles he easily brought to her face (or both). What was clear to Mike was that Camille’s laugh was infectious, her smile and gaze crippling, and that the time she originally set for their date had completely lapsed. Time and their surroundings dissolved for the two. They sauntered through the Brooklyn streets extending the moment as long as they could. Minutes and microseconds fizzled away, and sadly, the night ended, but not without their first kiss near Brooklyn's McCarren Park. Camille realized Mike must really like her when he decided to drive two hundred miles from New York City to Washington D.C. on the morning of New Year’s Day 2018, to spend a week with Camille and meet her college friends. They shared their first run of 2018 through the National Mall, posing for photos atop a frozen Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. From this moment, minutes turned to days, turned to weeks, turned to months. The two were in love and inseparable. Their desire for adventures together was inescapable. By way of car, plane, and often by foot, these islanders who found each other in New York explored sites and cities via backpacking, triathlons, marathons, and ultramarathons. And of course, there was always a cat in their lives. Their story continued to Boston, and in 2023 they celebrated Christmas in their quaint New Hampshire home. Christmas morning Camille unboxed her gift from Mike and giddily saw it was a 100-piece puzzle he painted of them and their kitty. Camille quickly put the puzzle pieces together. But how strange she thought, a few pieces were missing. The puzzle would sit incomplete. Days passed and amidst a candlelit dinner, Mike had two late Christmas gifts for Camille. Camille opened the first gift and staring back at her were the missing puzzle pieces. They had not been missing, but instead hidden by Mike. To Camille’s surprise one puzzle piece in hand, her ring finger, was painted with a ring on it. Confused at the piece she was holding, Mike lowered a knee to the ground and gave Camille her second gift, a ring and a question, “Will you complete me?” “Yes!” rejoiced Camille. With the ring on her finger, Camille put the last of the pieces in place for the puzzle and for their love story- they were engaged! With the thought of the miles they traveled to find each other, the miles traveled together to this point, and the cat puns they uttered throughout, Camille and Mike knew there were still many miles to go, and yet even better, many meows to go.