I asked Aaron to write something sweet and meaningful for our wedding website, and he looked at me like I had asked him to perform open-heart surgery. So instead of a short and silly little story from both of us, you’re getting our story from my point of view. Life works in weird little ways. Out of all the people in the world, there were probably never two people more different than us. Different cultures. Different personalities. Different ways of communicating. Different upbringings. Honestly, under any normal circumstance, I don’t think our paths would have crossed at all. But thanks to modern technology, questionable dating apps, and what I can only assume was divine intervention mixed with boredom… here we are. At the time, I was pretty close to giving up on dating altogether. The dating pool felt dirty, and every time I dipped my toes back in, I regretted it almost immediately. Usually, I only downloaded dating apps when I needed entertainment during a life crisis. COVID? Sure. Between jobs? Why not. Recovering from wisdom teeth surgery and heavily medicated? Apparently, also yes. What I did not expect was to match with the sweetest little nerd imaginable. At first, I honestly tried to talk myself out of it. I came up with every excuse possible to not get attached. But somewhere within those first few conversations, I knew Aaron was going to matter to me. Even if nothing came from it, I knew he’d somehow become part of my life forever. I just didn’t expect him to become my best friend. Aaron terrified me in the strangest way. Not because he was scary, but because he was patient. Calm. Kind. Steady. There was never a story too messy, too emotional, or too complicated for him to sit through. Nothing about who I was ever made him run away. Somehow, in his quiet and steady way, he made the world feel softer for me. Meanwhile, I introduced him to chaos, sticky rice, emotional storytelling, and seasoning. Somewhere between two kids, three dogs, completely opposite food preferences, and one very life-changing Tinder swipe, we built something that somehow works perfectly for us.

On our first anniversary, I gave Aaron a rock. Yes, an actual rock. In my defense, penguins give pebbles to the mate they choose for life, and by then, I was pretty sure he was my penguin mate. It took him two more years, but he eventually gave me a rock back; it honestly felt less like a surprise and more like a very formal confirmation. Obviously, I said yes.