"I could be my best if I spoke my own head for you... I know we're pretty young but I see what people grow into..."

Our story together began with a jovially light and innocently effortless friendship that sprouted from a Zoom class about Bob Dylan and the Beatles. We established first contact through Zoom's direct messaging interface. Ever the resourceful student, Genesis used this interface to enthusiastically complement the Beatles poster hanging on Michael's bedroom wall. Our mutual fascination and respect for music paved the way for a deeper connection. Michael asked Genesis for her contact information in the last few seconds of our final Zoom class together, and so began a conversation and a reciprocity that never ended and only grows stronger. With every thought shared and entrusted to the other, our admiration and appreciation for each other intensified. Finally, after nearly 5 months of interacting with one another solely through messaging, emailing, phone calls, and zoom calls, we met in-person for our first "Hang Out", as Michael called it. It was a perfect sunny August day spent nervously eating Panera sandwiches and a blend of watermelon scoops, sliced strawberries, and whole grapes and blueberries atop picnic blankets upon the fluffy grass of Michael's neighborhood park in Temescal Valley. Though being together in-person felt a little overwhelming at first, we both came to feel entirely at peace given the nature of our in-person dynamic. Everything seemed to flow; it felt like a heart-squeezing magic surrounded the space between and around us. As time went by, this effervescent magic evolved and polished into real love. It's now been nearly 3 years since that first "Hang Out", and every day we've had the other in our life has been inexplicably precious. To us, it's life's ultimate blessing to have found love, and to have the bottomless energy and desire to continue exploring, understanding, and building this immense love and the absolute support that accompanies it. Through it all, our love has been and continues being the most rare, spectacular, and significant gift. "Can you feel it? Feel it in the air? Can you see it? See it in the sky? Baby, it's Our Love!" The lyrics directly above this line are from Thee Sacred Souls' "It's Our Love". The lyrics at the top of this page are from Strawberry Guy's "Birch Tree".