In 2019, Mike had only recently moved to Hawaii from South Africa with his dad, Hannes, and was then working at Child and Family Service as IT Network Admin. Jessica at that time was working with Tiffany at Galiher, DeRobertis, & Waxman.

Mike and Jessica met downtown after getting off of work one day in April of 2019. After Tiffany introduced them, they hit it off at the pub and ended up playing darts and exchanging numbers. Their first date came shortly thereafter at the Chicken Factory, where Jessica brought him a musubi. He asked why she brought food when they were meeting at a restaurant and she said she thought he would like to have a homemade musubi. She was right. <3

After their first date of fried chicken, K-Pop, and a musubi, they began dating, going to karaoke, trying new restaurants, and meeting each other’s families. Mike was happily welcomed by Jessica’s family, especially by her dad, Brad, and mom, Susie. Hannes and Jessica kicked it off from the start. Elma and Marie both came to Hawaii and Jessica was so happy that Mike’s family is so warm and lovely. In November of 2020, they moved in together.

In the time since , Mike and Jessica have had so many shared experiences, going on adventures around the island and abroad, trying new food, playing videogames, assembling puzzles, working on huge Lego sets, amassing a hoard of plushies, and sharing a home and love.