One of Miami's Oldest Traditions
Miami University is famous for having a preposterous amount of ‘mergers’. However, few of those mergers occur over twenty-three hundred miles away from the campus Robert Frost once proclaimed “The most beautiful campus that ever there was.” In fact, David and Lauren would not have met at Miami since their undergrad time did not overlap, but Miami was still very much at the center of their courtship.
Right Place, Right Time
Time warp to 2016 - then Captain David Rothzeid was new to the San Francisco scene. In fact, the military as a whole was new to the Bay Area. David was part of a new, special organization called Defense Innovation Unit experimental (DIUx), which aimed to create bridges with the best tech start-ups and bring them into the Department of Defense bureaucracy. DIUx headquarters was located in Mountain View, the heart of Silicon Valley 40 miles south of San Francisco. Lucky for David, DIUx had a satellite office in a coworking space called Galvanize. Lauren arrived in San Francisco a few years earlier. After finishing Teach for America in Bridgeport, Connecticut Lauren moved to the Gold Coast and applied herself in the hot tech scene. Lucky for David, Lauren’s firm Keiretsu Forum, had a dedicated table in Galvanize right outside the DIUx office. One day in early October 2016 David noticed a red Nalgene water bottle with a big block ‘M’ sitting on a desk just outside the DIUx office, his curiosity piqued. A little later he noticed voices coming from the nearby table. His view was blocked, but the voice on the other side sounded extremely pleasant, competent, with a beautiful laugh.
The First Date
Curiosity got the best of David so he headed out to the bathroom to figure out whom this reminiscent water bottle belonged. Much to his delight she was quite attractive. Working up his nerve he resolved to introduce himself on the way back and uttered “you didn’t happen to go to Miami Ohio, did you?.” Her hazel eyes looked up and with an inviting smile she uttered “I did”. Over the ensuing month David figured out different ways to flirt with Lauren though truth be told she was rather skeptical. Lauren comes from a military family and David, wearing the San Francisco uniform of a hoodie, All Birds, and jeans did not fit the typical military mold. In fact, Lauren thought he might be a Russian spy. But the story checked out and eventually Lauren returned the vibes in kind. And then came Veterans Day. With the day off, David decided to go into the DIUx satellite office, to knock out some work, but also armed with a six pack. At 2pm, David invited his friend Brian who worked down the hall to join. Around 3pm they convinced Lauren to join. At 4pm Brian headed home and alone, on a quiet Friday afternoon, the two of them decided to head to an intimate cocktail bar called Novella. And the rest as they say is history! Lauren still has that same red water bottle with block white ‘M’, but now David and Bentley use it too.