We met through a friend, on a video call neither one of us really wanted to be on. It was the early months of COVID, when the world had retreated indoors, and social interaction had been replaced by glitchy screens and awkward small talk. But somehow, we both ended up on the same team.

We didn't fall in love right away, in fact, we didn't think much of it- just two strangers navigating a strange, shared moment.

We weren't supposed to fall in love. That wasn't the point. It was just something to pass the time- something light in a heavy world.

But slowly, quietly, we did- when we drove along the Pacific Coast from Laguna Beach to San Diego, watched sunsets in Torrey Pines, swam in cenotes in Tulum, climbed the cliffs in Nusa Penida, dive together in Nusa Lembongan, wandered the glowing Gardens by the Bay in Singapore, got lost in the food markets in Kuala Lumpur, swam side by side with the whale sharks and leaped through turquoise pools while rappelling beside waterfalls in Cebu, between flights and hikes, across oceans and time zones, in every moment we choose each other again and again. We became each other's favorite destination.

Eventually, we built a life not tied to a place, but to each other.

Looking back, we often laughed at how unlikely it all was- how a casual introduction on a video chat during the pandemic turned into a lifetime of memories. But we also knew that no matter how unlikely it seems, some people are simply meant to find each other. Because when it's meant to be, not even a global pandemic- or a few thousand miles- can keep love from finding you.

-Robert & Michelle