Mehwudge is wat bwings us togevah todaye.

At the invitation of a mutual friend, Alison and Michael went with a small group to a speed dating event. They didn't know each other at this point, but Fate intervened and matched them up for the final round. The five minute conversation continued into the group meal afterwards, when Alison boldly asked Michael what he was passionate about. He gave an introductory explanation of the link between cognition and quantum mechanics and the generative theory of reality. Who expects that answer? Not Alison! Which is a reason she then asked him on a proper date. Generating reality set the tone for their relationship. For their first solo date, Michael invited Alison over for "dinner." Alison quickly discovered that they had different definitions of a "dinner date," and maybe even different definitions of "fun." To Michael, this dinner was delicious, delicious curry from his "660 Curries" Bible of a cookbook that he finally had a reason to make. To Alison, it was a super complicated professional recipe that took 3.5 hours to make and split her attention between trying to measure ingredients and carrying on conversation. Honestly, she began to regret not insisting on a coffee date. That night almost took a nosedive, but Alison stuck it out because she was starving. Michael also reminded her that she had brought dessert, which would have to wait until the fourth hour of the evening. In retrospect, the reality they generated is that sometimes jumping into the unknown with an uncertain outcome, and talking about perspectives along the way, is how you figure out what's really important. (One of the things that was important to Michael was inviting Alison over a second time to enjoy another round of chana saag because he had accidentally put in a whole can rather than a tablespoon of tomato paste. One of the things that was important to Alison was reinforcing that a lot of expectations of what *should be* just get in the way of enjoying what is.) That's been the story of Michael and Alison, through the politics of the time, through the belt journey of jiu jitsu, through a self-exploratory sabbatical+, through covid lockdowns and additional homeschooling, and finally into buying a house and bringing Alison and Neela and Michael and Foster all together. How we met is by facing challenges together (and sometimes creating those challenges ourselves), out of which we generate our shared reality. And our reality now is that we are joyfully excited and ready to celebrate our blended family and our commitment to each other with all of you.