I would have liked to say our story began like many do, in college. While we both attended San Francisco State in 2016, the truth is we met like so many couples did at the time: on Tinder. I liked her green hair, she liked my noodles.

One interest we quickly realized we shared was film, specifically suspense and horror. On our first date we went to see a John Carpenter double-feature at the Roxie Theater.

And since then we've been to the theater hundreds of times. For years on end we would get as often as we could afford to, up to two or three times a week.

Over time we each developed our own hobbies and found passions to pursue. One that I picked up early on in our relationship was photography. Naturally, I had the perfect model to practice on and Winter (not always so willingly) obliged. Many of my favorite photos from her are from our first few years together.

As our relationship developed and we pursued our studies, we got somewhat restless of staying in San Francisco. With what little money we'd scrounged up from part-time work (and the generous standby benefits my mother got as a United Airlines employee), we spent the next few years traveling during our time off from school. Both domestically and abroad.

A lot of us picked up new hobbies during the pandemic. For some it was knitting, or maybe collecting stamps. For winter, it was plants. It started modestly with just a few herb planters on our back porch.

Or growing some marijuana like any good Californian should.

But her passion steadily grew.

And grew.

Eventually my recent experience with video production from journalism school and winter's passion for botany came together in the form of our short-lived youtube series: PJ Plant Talk. Every episode, Winter would don a new pair of pyjamas and share plant tips, recommendations, and tutorials.

Winter and I love her plants, but we had so much more love to give. As long as we've been together we've shared a passion for caring for animals. It started small when we lived in my mom's garage, literally.

Eventually we yearned for something a little scalier.

But what Winter always wanted was a proper animal companion, someone she could play with, care for, live with. Soon after we moved into our own apartment, that's when she adopted

Arlo loves going to the park, meeting new people, and is even gentle enough to let Winter constantly dress him up.

We recently moved again, and a little more living space meant we had room for one last member of the family.

Frida is more cautious than Arlo, always weary of new people, but much clingier. She can't stand to be away from either of us for too long.

Our biggest fear was always that Arlo would feel threatened by Frida or that they wouldn't get along, but after three days they became lifelong friends.

Winter's love for animals crosses from the real into the fictitious with her love for Pokemon.

What started as a childhood fascination with the series has followed her throughout her life, most recently through her participation in the Pokemon Regional Championships, which we've attended four of in the last year.

As this special day in both our lives approaches and we look back at the memories we've shared, the life we've built and the bonds we've made with one another, all that's left is to look ahead to the next ten years together. And the next ten after that. And the next ten after that.