It all started with an open gate. Well, sort of...

While our paths had briefly crossed multiple times over the years, it took a global pandemic to bring us together. In March of 2020, just as COVID19 began to shut the world down, a video game called “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” for Nintendo was being released. In this game, you create a little avatar who lives on a tropical island that you design, create, customize, and share with friends online. While Danny, the nerd that he is, would have gotten the game regardless – Anthony bought it on a whim as the game soared in popularity, providing an escape from reality at a time it was most needed.

In this game, you can visit another player’s island by “flying” to it via an in-game airport, or you can accept visitors to your island by opening your airport “gate”. As luck would truly have it, contingent upon layers-and-layers of serendipity (some may call fate), Danny, sleep-deprived from working night shifts in the hospital, had accidentally left his island’s gate open just as Anthony was looking to explore. While Anthony thought he was visiting a stranger, he ended up on Danny’s Island. After both of us jokingly asked, “Who the f*** are you?!”, we quickly hit it off. What started as two new friends bonding over a silly video game during unprecedented times, quickly grew into much, much more.

While the isolation of the pandemic continued, chats about the video game turned into deeper conversations about anything and everything. Texts became phone calls, phone calls became hours-long FaceTime "dates" – and we saw our friendship transform into mutual feelings of affection, understanding, and admiration. As pandemic restrictions started to loosen, we finally got to meet face-to-face - nearly four months after our fateful “island” encounter. While several more months would pass before we could go out on a proper date (like to a restaurant, movie theater, or museum), our love blossomed nonetheless.

As the world began slowly returning to some semblance of normalcy, we further saw our worlds collide and were enraptured by the seamless intermeshing of our family and friends. Our feelings for one another deepened. Together, we would go on to explore Central Park, Mexico, Marco Island, and Italy – just to name a few.

After over 3 years of splitting our time between Staten Island and Manhattan, we decided it was time to officially start our lives together on Staten Island – surrounded by our family and friends.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

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