We met in high school, through mutual friends who probably had no idea what they were starting. It wasn’t love at first sight or some big dramatic moment. It was smaller than that, and somehow better. We ended up in the same art class, and that’s where the real story began.

I don’t remember the exact day we went from classmates to friends. It just happened, the way it does when you keep showing up in the same room, day after day, and slowly getting to know each other. Somewhere along the way, friendship turned into something more.

Now look at us. Eight years. We bought a house and turned it into a home. We adopted a cat, who quickly made herself the center of our world. And then came the engagement, a promise to keep building this life together, along with a puppy who joined our little family right along with it.

Here’s to us, to our house full of love, our cat, our puppy, and everything still ahead.