Connect How did your love story begin?

We met in college, at a backyard party right before the semester started. Come Monday we wound up being in the same class and sat next to each other. We were both in serious relationships with other people at the time so it wasn’t romantic at all, we just quickly became best friends. A long time later our relationships ended for their own reasons, we graduated, moved cities, stopped talking every day, and realized how much life sucked without the “us” of it all. We’ve been together ever since.

What is your favorite memory you've shared as a couple?

We’ve been visiting each person’s 2 most common ancestries/countries, & participating in local, traditional marriage rites & rituals to tie ourselves together in every way possible. No matter which religion or belief is real we want our ancestors to be honored, to be recognized, & to welcome each other as partners in whatever afterlife lay ahead. These trips have been life changing both individually & as a couple as our marriage continues to deepen with each place we go & ritual we perform.

What would you do with $20,000?

Our last heritage trip is Sweden. We’ve done Scotland & Ireland for Leah, & just finished Japan for Matt’s first one. One more to go. We would use the money to immerse ourselves in the last country for as long as possible, visiting Matt’s great grandparents’ villages, (eating tinned fish!), exploring the culture his mother’s family is from, and binding ourselves in this final way underneath the eternal midnight sun. <3 Thank you to those who came before - with you there would be no us.