When Doral Academy opened in 2000, nobody would have thought that love was ready to blossom. It would be a Hallmark story to say that we fell in love when we first met in first grade, but it would be nearly 20 years before everything fell into place.

It feels like we always missed one another. Gabi "dated" Alfredo's elementary school best friend, Alfredo's family organized parties through Gabi's event-planning mom, and we hung out with similar groups of people, but it wasn't until college that we officially met.

In college, Sofi Jaramillo introduced Alfredo and Gabi. Sofi is Gabi's best friend from childhood, and she was dating (and later married) Alfredo's roommate and college best friend, Enrique Lam. Though there was something there, we knew it wasn't the right time and became close friends.

We kept in touch for years as we lived our young adult lives. Gabi became a marketing leader in the Miami restaurant industry before starting a boutique marketing agency. Alfredo moved to Washington, D.C. to follow a lifelong dream of political activism.

When the pandemic struck, we were in Miami with more time than we knew what to do with. More and more, we were spending that time together.

When Alfredo embarked on a cross-country motorcycle trip mid-pandemic, serendipity led us to Colorado. There, we undertook extreme adventures and consoled a temporarily downtrodden Felipe Angulo. Throughout it all, we remained friends.

We returned to Miami for just a short while. Alfredo planned to leave for Boston to start a Master's program. However, the thought of leaving each other again seemed too much to bear. The night before Alfredo left, we found ourselves confessing our feelings for one another in the back of an Uber. Just minutes before Alfredo left for Boston, we kissed. Gabi's one-word description of the kiss: "Fireworks."

Life was never the same after that kiss. Gabi soon learned she was accepted to a Master's program at Emerson College and moved to the heart of Boston. Together, we confronted the successes and challenges of life, from studying for finals week to celebrating new clients for our growing businesses.

Through it all, we've always remembered what brought us together: grabbing life by the horns and enjoying the ride. In the short time we've been together, we crossed the country three times, tried countless new foods, experiences, and places, and pushed ourselves to the edges of our comfort zones (and then some). And we're just getting started.