The metaphorical wall came down and lockdown orders were issued. Ulysses and Ying did not yet know each other and were hundreds of miles apart and in very different situations.

Ulysses had been working in Houston in the technology sector but with the lockdown, he could no longer go into the office physically, he would now have to work from home. Without the hustle and bustle of the big city, without his morning commute, he began to realize that he did not like the large metropolis that surrounded him and he needed something to keep his mind occupied, he felt empty inside, this is when he resigned to leave Houston with his cat Mavrick, and find a property he could work on in the city of his alma mater, it was there that he found a property for purchase and there that he would work on its interior to keep busy and hopefully stay sane.

Ying faced far greater challenges, as Ulysses had found some freedom in these turbulent times, there was only hardship for Ying. Her family was far away in China, and due to the pandemic, it was impossible to see any of them, she toiled away at her residency program, normally medical residency represents the most difficult and trying time in a young doctor's life but with the pandemic, it became an impossible situation for her in a foreign country under lockdown. She would work more than 12 hours a day and go home with only her kitties to greet her.

It was about halfway through 2021 when Ulysses felt that even with the changes he made, moving out of Houston and back to a place he felt comfortable, something was missing, he was lonely in the house he made and nearly simultaneously across the emerald coast, Ying, cuddling her kitties, felt the same way.

They started searching and in one of the most incredible one-in-a-million pandemic-style occurrences, they found each other. Once they were together, they virtually never spent a moment apart, Ulysses left the home he was building to move in with Ying. Ying was no longer lonely and Ulysses no longer felt the emptiness that drove him from that big city. They would travel the country together, and have wonderful times and in the summer of 2022, in the forests of Vermont, Ulysses proposed with an Irish Claddagh ring and Ying was overjoyed.

This is why you have been invited to our wedding, please come, drink heartily, and celebrate the wonderful majesty and mystery of love.