We were born just nine days apart, only 54 kilometers away from each other - 33 miles for any Americans reading this, which is basically next door in Canadian terms. But instead of meeting early on, we spent years circling each other from opposite sides of the world. In 2013, we both made moves to the mountains: Erica to British Columbia, Zack to Colorado. Then, Erica moved through Australia, Italy, and Croatia. Zack bounced between the U.S., Canada, and Nigeria. Somehow, we kept ending up in the same far-flung places - Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro - just never at the same time. It took a global pandemic to finally bring us to the same place. When COVID hit, Erica was in Italy, Zack in Rwanda. We both returned to Canada - Erica for visa reasons, Zack for work. We matched on Bumble, both thinking this would be a short-lived friendship before heading off to our next international chapters. So temporary, in fact, that when we went for a drink and Zack offered to buy the wine, Erica said, “I can buy it myself. This isn’t a date.” Then lockdown hit. For two months, we were apart - but we never stopped talking. When restrictions lifted, we picked up right where we left off. We finally had our first official date (Zack forgot his wallet, so Erica paid - a strong start), and not long after, we moved in together. From there, everything just made sense. We brought home our pup, Smalls - the first addition to our little family. A year later, we welcomed Everest Lily Burns into the world on December 16, 2021. Was it fast? Maybe. But the way we see it, a year of lockdown together with a dog is equatable to at least 3 years in time spent together when you look at the numbers haha. In 2024, we welcomed our second daughter, Scotland Rose Burns, into the world. A calm, bright presence from the start, she completed our little family in a way we didn’t know we were waiting for. Through it all, we’ve kept moving - literally. Travel has always been part of who we are, and it’s something we’ve passed on to our girls. Everest had her passport stamped in Ecuador, Mexico, the U.S., and the Dominican Republic by three (and if you count Erica being pregnant in Guatemala, she’s got that one too). Scotland’s already got a few stamps of her own. We’ve always loved travel, movement, adventure. But what’s kept us grounded is each other - and the little family we’ve built along the way. Forever was always the plan. Now, we’re just making it official.