That seems quite a long time ago, doesn't it? Britain was still in the European Union, the closest to a pandemic we came was the West African Ebola outbreak, and Scotland almost became a country. Perhaps on that day specifically, you were at work, or meeting a friend in a cafe for a drink. Maybe you were deep into the pages of a good book, aiming the barrel of a camera at a beautiful, unsuspecting flower, or maybe you were just having a self-care day, having a good rest or spending time with family.

On that particular day, ten years ago exactly, in a small inconsequential village in the Welsh Valleys, a boy was preparing for what would be his last high school exams. He had a conditional offer to a university on the other side of the country, in a city he had only been to once (which was to check out the university in question). It was a stressful time, as I'm sure you can imagine, not entirely helped by the fact this boy was rather lonesome.

There were few kids his age in the village, none of whom went to his school across the county. At home there was dad, recently retired and nice to have around the house. Mum often worked away for days on end, and her weekends at home were always a treat. His sister, older by 18 months, was... well, if you've had a sibling close in age, you know how it goes when you're kids. At school, he studied hard and knew his stuff, but hadn't quite grasped that there was more to friendship than that. Though his situation had improved from the extent of the bullying a couple of years ago, things seemed to happen around him, especially as his entire friend group had left school the previous year to seek greener pastures at the local A-Level college. He didn't mind, though - he walked to the nearby supermarket during free periods, bought a pot of tea and a newspaper and sat in the cafe reading, nurturing a budding interest in politics. He might not have been included in much, but at least he wasn't being actively excluded. That was good... right?

Shortly before the date in question, when not alleviating the stress of exams by whiling away hours on his trusty Xbox 360, this boy happened upon a picture. A very nice picture, as a matter of fact. A wholesome picture, showing two bears sharing a nice warm cuddle. Only these bears weren't the kind you find in forests - they stood upright like people, wore clothes, and had a more cartoony style to them. It was like a still from a kids' show, but somehow different. The boy found more pictures in a similar style on deviantArt, all from the same account of one very talented artist. He watched from the sidelines, awed by the talent of his apparent master illustrator, too shy to do anything more than click on a link and appreciate what he saw.

Then came the date in question. The artist posted a short journal, stating that they wouldn't be posting so much on deviantArt anymore. This, as you can imagine, produced a sense of disappointment, until he kept reading, and learned that the artist would be focussing on another site, unknown to the boy. 'Affinity' was a word he had often seen, though given the characters the artist drew, the prefix 'Fur' made sense. So the boy continued to the website, and found a treasure trove of artwork, writing, music, photography, and animation, as if he had just stumbled into a parallel world of culture. But from that first artist that had led him to this site? The boy would have to be a member to view that artist (Safe for Work, just a setting that the artist had chosen). Creating an account was easy enough, as would choosing a name. Most users seemed to be American, so something unusual would likely go down well, something that expressed both his name and his origin. DaiCymru became a furry.

The rest is history... or, rather, histories. The first is of the boy who sat his exams, and on his 18th birthday became a man. He went to university, and got better at learning social cues, making friends, and living with other people far from home. As was the norm, distance made his heart grow fonder of his sister, who would become his best friend. He pursued his dream of flight, spending a quarter in Czechia and learning to fly at age 20. He travelled to Japan for a year abroad, observed how people so far away lived and brought some of his own country along with him to share. He used that time to travel more, seeing the beauty of the planet at every opportunity. He graduated university with the top grade, and in the time without work that followed he filled by serving his community voluntarily. It took time, but he eventually secured a job serving his wider national community. He settled right in, and alongside got into writing and self-published a book, and became a more keen cyclist. Life was not without its challenges - the setbacks in finding work, the lockdown and its torments, the light fading his mother's eyes as he held her in her final moments. But overall, fortune has been kind to the boy. He saved to buy a house, granting him a room to spare when sought by a fellow fleeing war-torn soil. He secured a higher paying job, cycled to London in four days, and as the padlock on society clattered to the floor he travelled even further than he had before.

That was one life he led. The other was lived entirely unaware to everyone else in that first life. The life in which the boy discovered that real people existed behind those pretty furry pictures, and got to know them. He took pictures and shared his small corner of the globe with a small online community, and shared his experiences through journals and comments. Through those, he met more people, more wonderful, clever, funny, inspiring, helpful, and lovely people from every part of the planet. When funds allowed, he would meet them, both at home and overseas. He discovered that furries gathered together in conventions, and began attending them, with one Canadian con becoming an annual pilgrimage. He also began staffing those conventions, getting to meet truly incredible people giving their time so that others could enjoy theirs. He found a furmeet near his university and regularly attended, and later found another near his place of work. Though millions upon millions of messages with the best people a young man could ever hope to meet, he came to learn about himself, the way he spoke with and acted around people, and discovered the best of humanity among people who sought to escape that same humanity with colourful costumes, beautiful artwork, and moving literature.

What a decade it's been. What an honour it has been to know you, to meet you, and to love you. This I do from the bottom of my heart, from the depths of my soul. You made me. I hope that, in some way, I can return the favour.

Flt/Lt. Dai, out.