Not Our First Rodeo

In 2018 we both decided to do one of the craziest things any individual could do, join Remote Year (RY). We met in Kuala Lumpur on the first day of our program and were instantly drawn to each other. After trying to play it cool for a few months, we had to accept that we both had strong feelings for each other and decided to give us dating a real shot.

During September 2018, our Remote Year group spent a month in Lisbon, Portugal. Lisbon quickly became one of our favorite cities that we filled with countless memories. One of our favorite memories of not only that month, but our entire year, was this event we did called “West Coast, Best Coast”. For anyone not from our Remote Year group, what that really meant was that about 25ish of us piled into 3 vintage UMM jeeps to off-road through lush forests and stand on the “edge of the earth”. Fast forward to 2021 - 3 years to the month of their first time in Portugal together. One of Sean and Marissa’s good friends and program leader from RY, Michelle, lived in Portugal and told S&M that she was planning to do “West Coast, Best Coast” again. As it was one of our favorite days, we jumped on the idea of going again, this time with an added trip to see a castle in Sintra. Unbeknownst to Marissa was that Sean was in fact the one behind the excursion and was recreating one of her favorite days together. As the day wore on and we got closer to the cliffs, it slowly became more obvious what was coming. As we got to the cliffs and started our walk down to the place we had been 3 years prior (and incidentally what had been Marissa’s phone background all those years), Sean and Marissa shared a private moment and Sean dropped to his knee.

This can't be our second rodeo without having a first! As you all know, we got married on October 10, 2021 outside of Toronto, Canada with 20 of our closest friends and family. As much as we would have loved to have everyone there, we decided to get married asap to get our immigration process started and have a big celebration in the future.