It was a classic high school love story, Boy had crush on girl Girl becomes good friends with boy Boy is too shy and remains in the friendzone for 7 years Girl makes a move on boy and then leaves to South America Boy never gives up and ends up becoming best friends with and marrying girl This is a very simplified version of the beginnings of Kiyomi and I’s romantic relationship, but our personal relationship goes all the way back to Freshman/Sophomore year of high school. I was very much that shy boy, and when I met (and immediately fell in love with) Kiyomi my game plan was to give her a giant valentines day card with a t-rex drawn on it asking if she would ‘be my Friend-asaurus.’ Great friend-asaurases we became, and while a romantic relationship didn’t form immediately, I couldn’t believe that this gorgeous, funny, intelligent girl wanted to hang out and be friends with me. Kiyomi and I remained good friends through high school and college. I was always hoping for the right opportunity where Kiyomi would fall madly in love with me. Kiyomi, was pretty much unaware of my feelings as I never confessed my love and my only move was to write misleading holiday cards. Kiyomi does like to point out that I did confess my undying love for her TWICE, one time with her then boyfriend overhearing. I slowly started to give up hope that anything romantic could happen between us, and was content just to have her in my life as a close friend. This was when, the night before her leaving on a trip to South America, Kiyomi decided to make a move on me and we had our first kiss. After Kiyomi returned from her South America trip I was hopeful to ignite a spark with her, she decided to just play it cool and act like nothing happened. A few months passed and nothing materialized and I soon began to resign myself to the strong friendship that we always shared. I had been working on my skills on the dance floor and as luck would have it Kiyomi agreed to come out to a club with a group of friends. One thing led to another and Kiyomi and I started dancing. While my training certainly didn’t show, we both immediately felt a deep emotional and physical connection. It had been more than 7 years since we first met, and in one night our lives changed completely. From that evening on our love for eachother has been constant yet always evolving. Those first months of dating, spending long nights on her roof watching the Seattle skyline; to the endless trips and adventures we share, we have grown and built a life together that a younger me couldn’t have possibly imagined. And now, having written out (for the first time) the beginnings of how we met, I cannot wait for all of you to share in the beginning of us committing ourselves fully to each other…and mostly just having a kickass celebration in Mexico.