The story of what was to become Ariel and Griffin began innocuously at Edmonds Summer Ultimate Frisbee pickup games in the early 2000s. Over the years, they developed a (mild) tolerance towards each other, forged through their shared willingness to awkwardly throw themselves at discs and somehow catching more of them than expected until Ariel moved to Colorado in 2012 to begin her veterinary journey. Despite the distance, Ariel and Griffin continued to stay in touch and played on multiple teams together in Washington during Ariel’s academic breaks. Their friendship continued to blossom as Griffin became more than the frisbee teammate that shared a name with one of Ariel’s family cats while Ariel became more than the best receiver at preventing Griffin’s ill-conceived throws resulting in turnovers. After slowly growing their friendship, Griffin made his first visit to Fort Collins in 2015 and received the seal of approval from Mosca the cat (becoming the only other person that “Monster” willingly permitted long-term proximity), forcing them to acknowledge the inevitable and officially begin their dating relationship. Ariel and Griffin remained in constant contact and endured bouts of impostor syndrome, Mosca’s cancer diagnosis and subsequent surgery, and multiple thousand-mile road trips in Ariel’s Toyota Matrix (despite Griffin’s tenuous grasp on driving a manual). Ariel returned from Colorado permanently in 2016 and Finn the border collie joined the family, adding energy, charisma, and perfection to the mix as he provided emotional support throughout the vet school admission process. Their next crossroads came in December of 2017 after Ariel was offered admission to the University of Sydney veterinary program, and had to decide whether she would move to Australia before receiving responses from her other potential schools. The lure of unique experiences abroad ultimately prevailed, and soon Griffin was signing both of them up for Global Entry, contacting potential flatmates on Gumtree, and preparing to endure semi-annual flights lasting more than 15 hours. Pixel would soon enter the picture after months of searching for a cat-tolerant greyhound rescue after determining that putting Finn through multiple trans-Pacific flights would not be viable. Back at home, Griffin made sure all animals were spoiled to Ariel’s satisfaction, including sibling cats Marcel and Zola (named after two of Griffin’s favorite late-90s soccer players) who joined the menagerie in mid-2018. After 7 months apart, Griffin visited Ariel in Australia where he met Pixel in-person for the first time. During the trip, the couple explored the Blue Mountains, Bondi Beach, and Watson’s Bay together. They also attended the lowest scoring home AFL performance in Sydney Swans history with inadvertently-purchased pitch side seats The following year, Griffin discreetly smuggled himself to Ariel’s door, though the plan backfired somewhat when it took her almost an hour to realize he was outside. By the end of 2019, Ariel and Griffin had identified marriage as the next step following vet school. While the pandemic introduced and exacerbated their shared challenges, they continued to push forward together. Ariel began fostering cats, which led to siblings Gomez and Myrtle joining the Australian branch of the clan (which Griffin hopelessly claims will be their last pets for a long while). Finally, in December of 2021, everyone was united in Seattle ready to start the next chapter of their shared lives.