Our story begins in 2016, when Soudakoff visited New Zealand as part of her six-week study abroad program with SEA Semester. We were pulled together to be introduced to each other at the Auckland Deaf Club. The short American girl had questioned Berry’s authenticity as a Kiwi, due to her sign name using the ASL handshape for "R", but Berry took pride in both sharing the same name. This was the beginning of our friendship.

Soudakoff departed to sea the next morning to commence her three-month exploration of the Land of the Long White Cloud.

When she returned to Auckland, Soudakoff stayed at Berry’s house during her adventures in Auckland, and to Soudakoff's surprise, Berry happily lended Soudakoff her car to explore regions beyond Auckland. This had become an genuine friendship that was built on the commonality of their name.

Fast forward to the end of Soudakoff’s stay in New Zealand, Berry had promised to keep in touch after Soudakoff left - a promise that was not kept until 2020.

In 2020, amidst the COVID pandemic, global lockdowns, and connections through video-calling, we reconnected again. Our conversation topics went from COVID-19, vaccines, lockdowns, inability to travel/wanting to come to NZ to personal life, family and friends. Contact went from sporadic messages to daily five to eight hour video calls…

Both of us desired to see if the spark that was there in texts and video calls, was also there in person. Since Soudakoff could not travel into New Zealand while Berry could travel out and into America, Berry proceeded to book a flight to Los Angeles. The first booked flight to America got canceled… and the second… but Soudakoff’s well-known determination saw a third flight be booked and Berry made her way over to the USA via Hong Kong. A 36 hour flight saw the reunion of the Rachels…. and the sparks were just as strong as over video calls.

The final step was now to see if Soudakoff could receive a visitor visa to New Zealand, as at the time the borders were closed to all tourists. Two days after Berry's arrival in Los Angeles, Soudakoff received the good news via email and it was not long after when Berry asked Soudakoff to be her girlfriend.

After one and half year of living together in New Zealand, adopting a pup, purchasing our first home together, and countless adventures, Soudakoff brought Berry back to Los Angeles for a two-week vacation. It was during this vaction that Soudakoff's family organised a short holiday to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Soudakoff knew that this was a rare opportunity where both Rachels are surrounded by their loved ones all in one place, so Soudakoff popped the question, and Berry said, "of course!"