It all began in Miami while checking in for day 1 of the Peace Corps in 2014, her beaming smile capturing my attention instantly, the seed of friendship planted amongst a rich and hopeful soil, perfect for growing. The first 3 months of training were vigorous, draining and exhausting, our cohort colleagues becoming close out of survival, our chance occurrences to individually connect became nourishing and intriguing. I spoke Mayan and lived in the South of Belize. We were worlds apart and while our focus was on the work in our villages, our friend groups coincidentally kept bringing us together on the occasional vacation outings. As our international contracts were drawing to a close, we looked at our now healthy sapling of friendship, with its newly formed buds and green leaves, and agreed that looking upon future blossoms would be nice. Supported by family, our evolving journey brought us to southern California, where we could focus on our school careers and finally ourselves, creating our definition of a relationship, guided by the natural elements and wisdom of various beaches, deserts, oak groves, and the magical summer visits to the Pacific Northwest. Wanting to move to a place “with green trees” (her words), our buddy road-trip movie on the 5 soon began, moving just after our school careers came to a natural end and the pandemic rapidly displaying its fangs. Our adolescent tree was uprooted from the dry desert sand and re-planted in the moist and rich earth of Washington. Love in the time of COVID-19, we both worked in the trenches of pandemic relief and rode the choppy waters of crafting a partnership, answering our cathartic journey with gratitude and the fact that after 4 years of long-distance, we were finally living and learning with one another. Our tree now planted firmly in Tacoma, our community taking shape to bask and shelter under its warm leaves and extended limbs, we take a breath and look upon the colorful blossoms, wishing our family and friends to join us now.

It all started in Miami on the first day of Peace Corps training. After connecting over a role play activity and our shared excitement for this new adventure, I knew this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I spoke Spanish and lived in the central part of Belize. Over the next 2 ½ years, we worked on public health projects in our villages, teaching health classes at local primary schools, doing home visits with community health workers, and organizing youth camps, to name a few. At the end of our Peace Corps journey, neither of us were sure what we were doing next. Even though our relationship was new, we knew it was special. We decided to make it work, together. For the next 4 years, I was in Orange County and he was in San Diego. Long distance was tough, but we made it work, finding times to visit each other or meet in the middle in our favorite beach town: Carlsbad. Wanting to move to a place “with more water” (his words), we moved to Washington in 2020. We love the life we’ve created here, getting involved in our community, hiking and backpacking in our beautiful parks, and spending time with friends and family. We’re excited to be embarking on our next journey together and we’re so happy that you’ll be joining us to celebrate!