Fortunately for us, there are no pictures of it, but we first met during a “cat party” at Reed College. Katherine embraced this annual tradition—a first for both of us—wholeheartedly. She wore painted whiskers, pointy ears, and a big smile. After hitting it off, it was difficult for us not to spend a lot (a lot!) of time together over the next several weeks, as Reed is a pretty small place. And spend time together we did—over food in the dining hall, study sessions in the library, and at more parties, not all of them cat-themed. Our first official date, though, was on February 13, 2014 (Valentine’s Day would have been too much pressure) at Pok Pok, then Portland’s finest purveyor of Thai chicken wings.

By the beginning of the summer, Neil’s exchange program was coming to an end, and we presumed our relationship would follow the same trajectory. We decided to soak up the sunbeams and our remaining time together in Katherine’s hometown: Boise, Idaho. From here, we planned a road trip to Yellowstone (a mere seven hours away on the I-84), where we learned that one of us (Neil) is not especially good at setting up tents, and the other (Katherine) cannot hike for extended periods of time without snacks. Our summer expedition also included a trip to McCall, Idaho, and it was here, while we sat on the edge of Payette Lake, that we pledged to reunite if we were both still single in five years’ time.

As it happened, we didn’t have to wait that long. Amidst a tearful goodbye at the Boise airport, we made the impractical last-minute decision to stay together in spite of the long distance between our hometowns. Katherine applied to study abroad in the UK, where she would soon join Neil (and, unofficially, his roommates) at the University of Nottingham. After several months together in England, we again found ourselves cobbling together money for flights across the Atlantic until Neil enrolled in a Ph.D. program in Santa Barbara a few years later.

Now, nearly ten years to the date of that fateful cat party, after countless flights, a move to Santa Cruz, and a lot of growth together, we are so excited to be returning to Boise to celebrate with the community that has so generously supported us the last decade together. See you soon!