Stephanie and Mike

Hail and well met, traveler!

We are Stephanie and Mike, a couple of nerds living in Snohomish County. Thank you for taking the time to read our letter.

We met in 2017 while playing video games online with friends. Despite Mike being in Minnesota and Stephanie in Washington, we decided to take a shot at a relationship. Two years later, Mike moved to Washington, and we moved in together. A year after that, Stephanie proposed at a treehouse resort. We returned to that same treehouse spot in November 2021 to get married, surrounded by a small group of friends, family, and loved ones.

Stephanie was born and raised in Southern California and moved to Washington after college, drawn by the excitement of Seattle and the vibrant forests surrounding it. She went on to get her master’s degree in social work after some independent studying on child development and attachment theory and was able to intern at a local adoption agency to learn the ins and outs of adoption processes. Her fascination with psychology, sociology, and the complexities of human relationships all lead her toward her current job of working with children and families in a therapy setting.

Mike originally hails from the frozen state of Minnesota as the youngest of a family of five. Growing up, Mike’s family didn’t have much money, which created a tight family bond and taught him to get by with what he had. From his parents, Mike gained a love for cooking and an appreciation for outdoorsmanship, both of which continue to be passions of his today. Since retiring from his career in pharmacy, he operates as the resident homemaker and handyman while he pursues his woodworking hobby. As the intended stay-at-home parent, Mike loves the idea of sharing all that he’s learned in his life so far and being present for the day-to-day milestones.

Currently, we are renting a three-bedroom home in a city north of Seattle and enjoy the quiet convenience of our neighborhood. Eventually, we hope to move to Minnesota to reconnect with our friends and family there, but will always have reasons to return to Washington. We get out to a variety of local comic conventions, art shows, and Renaissance festivals each year. When the weather dictates that we stay home, we both enjoy playing video games in our side-by-side gaming setup in our office. Of course, our three cats always make sure to interrupt us as much as possible for snuggles, snacks, and play time.

We both have spent our lifetimes around and caring for children. From assisting in raising his niece and nephew to volunteering with children’s science education programs, Mike enjoys and is excited to encourage in his child(ren) a love of knowledge, nature, and wonder. Through her work and studies, Stephanie is most excited to foster emotional intelligence, safety, and creativity. Due to some potentially inheritable conditions on both sides of our families, we have decided against having biological children. In discussing our plans to adopt, we both agreed that open adoption was the most ethical and mindful choice for our future child and their needs. We hope to foster a relationship with our child’s birth family based on honesty, communication, and empathy. We want our future child’s birth family to become a part of our family, too.

We wish you the best on your journey.

Kindest regards,

Stephanie & Mike