It's amazing what can be born of a simple kindness. Six years ago, after a small planning snafu, a kind man offered to take a disappointed woman apple picking; the rest, as they say, is history. Nearly six years, three continents, two apartments, and one ring later our relationship is still founded on that same spirit of care and generosity.

 

Three months after becoming a couple we were separated for over a year by the onset of the pandemic. That time taught us how to stay close even from a distance and gave us a solid foundation for everything that followed: living on top of each other in a 350-square-foot apartment, the tumult of our early 20s, and eventually, doing long distance (again) when Yvette moved to England for graduate school. Between time zones, red-eye flights, and late-night train rides, we always found ways to show up for each other.

 

It was on Max's first visit to the U.K. in November of 2024 that we quietly acknowledged what we had long known: we were a family. There was no grand proposal, just a shared steady certainty that it was time to begin our next chapter. We can't wait to start writing it with all of you!