We met in college, though the details are a little fuzzy for one of us (guess who). Our first night together was spent talking for hours and playing Mario Kart, where Madi swiftly established dominance by winning. Despite the connection, the timing wasn’t right for either of us, so we became friends. Good friends. Mostly bonding over cup-pong during COVID (which Madi also won every time, obviously). After college, we ended up in the same city and started spending weekends together. We hiked, saw friends, and slowly kept each other close without ever saying it out loud. We kissed twice, two months apart, and then nothing. Timing, again. It wasn’t until after a snowboarding trip that we finally admitted we wanted more. Even then, we took it slow. It was a little messy and a little undefined, but we kept showing up. When we made it official in 2021, it just felt right. Now we do pretty much everything in sync, sometimes alarmingly so. If one of us gets sick or injured, the other somehow follows within days. But we balance each other too. When Madi’s moody, Brady stays calm. And when Brady gets nihilistic, Madi’s the one reminding him we have a sweet treat and the world’s not ending, at least not tonight. Now we live together with our two spoiled cats, Alfred and Kiki, and share a long list of favorite things. We love hammocking, music festivals, big trips, and eating really good food. We’ve traveled through Japan, Mexico, Canada, Florida, and the Redwoods, and hopefully more coming soon. We still make each other laugh. We still play games (Brady took revenge in Mario Kart while we were in Japan). And we’re still each other’s favorite person to come home to.