Tim and Michelle's love story starts in the most romantic place ever known: a college dorm. It was August 2018, the first week of their sophomore year at the University of Southern California. Amid questionably stained carpets, the puke-green painted walls of USC’s Cale Building (if you know, you know) and hiding red solo cups from our RA – Michelle’s roommates were so excited to introduce her to their best friend, Tim. “Everybody loves Tim!” And Michelle was introduced as the girl running around trying to hook up the TV to watch the Little League World Series. They were nineteen, trying to find their place in the world, and soon they found it in each other. From the moment they met that day, they quickly became best friends. And rarely spent a day apart that entire semester. When Michelle decided to make a documentary about the beloved taco street vendor (shoutout Benito) for a class project, she enlisted the help of Tim because he spoke Spanish. And because she was harboring the biggest secret (not-so-secret) crush of her life on him. They spent the next four nights walking across campus, Tim carrying all her heavy camera equipment, to see if the famous “Tacoman” was out. (Benito had a very unreliable schedule.) Night after night, they would make the long trek to see if Benito was there, but it didn’t really matter. The best part was walking with each other and talking and laughing and realizing they wanted to do that every night forever. They still go on an evening stroll almost every night today (and occasionally return home with a taco, too). Tim took Michelle on their first date to the Griffith Observatory at sunset (where they filmed La La Land, of course) and then to a Thai restaurant for dinner. She never had Pad Thai before which was a risk that wound up paying off – they’re even going to Thailand on the honeymoon! They said “I love you” and met each other’s families within one month of dating which is totally not insane and sound advice they give to everyone in a relationship. Tim was quickly welcomed into the fold of her crazy Staten Island family, and Michelle went to Paraguay in 2023 where she realized both their family’s love language is food. Lots and lots of delicious food. Tim is always the first person Michelle lets read her writing. He’s her favorite person to eat ice cream with. Without him, her phone quite literally would never be charged and she would die of dehydration. He’s frequently the last person at the karaoke bar waiting for her to finish, and he always brings out the “silly goose” in her. Michelle and Tim have incredibly different music tastes, but he doesn’t hold it against her. Michelle has introduced a lot of new things to Tim’s life, like every obscure pop culture reference that he missed out on living abroad and how to pronounce words without “R”s. She’s taught him that twisting some facts of reality (also known as “Macts”, Michelle Facts) makes life a little more interesting. She’s his favorite partner in crime, and those crimes are usually going dancing or spending time with their good friends in LA and New York. Together Michelle and Tim have traversed six countries, two apartments, three dorms, one wildfire, and eight beautiful years. They make each other a little bit better everyday. It’s just the beginning.