We first met in April 2022 in Cabo San Lucas. Each of us had travelled with a group of friends, but by the end of the first day our groups had blended into one. We spent the entire week together, making memories we still laugh about. When it came time for me to leave, Jesse promised that this wouldn’t be the last I’d see of him and just two weeks after leaving Mexico, he flew from Vancouver Island to visit… and then again two weeks after that. By the time summer rolled around, he invited me to spend two weeks on Vancouver Island with him. We officially started dating within those first two weeks, and those “two weeks” quickly turned into most of the summer and September. As my upcoming trip to Australia got closer, we weren’t sure what long-distance would look like for us—especially with the time difference. But Jesse kept reassuring me that we’d figure it out. So at the end of October 2022, I left for Australia excited, but also nervous for what this meant for our future. Then came January 2023: Jesse quit his job, sold his truck, moved out of his apartment, and flew across the world to meet me in Indonesia. We backpacked with friends for two months before heading back to Australia to live and work together. We spent the rest of the year exploring and backpacking around Australia until August 2023, when we decided it was time to come home. Jesse returned to Vancouver Island, and I went back to Marwayne—once again unsure of what the next chapter would look like. I accepted a teaching contract for the 2023–24 school year, which meant I was committed to staying in Marwayne. I was happy, but also disappointed knowing it would be hard for us to see each other if Jesse stayed on Vancouver Island. After five more months of long distance, Jesse bought a house in Vermilion, and in January 2024 we finally moved in together and started building a life in the same place. In December 2024, we returned to Cabo—the place where it all began. On the morning of December 12th, on the balcony of our beachfront hotel, sipping coffee and watching the sunrise, Jesse asked me to marry him. And just like that, we began the next chapter of our story—one I couldn’t have dreamed of in a more perfect way.