We sat at desks next to each other in graduate school in Pittsburgh for a few years before ever really getting to know each other. We were both studying philosophical questions in the physical sciences. Jeff's desk in the corner gradually accumulated so many books that he could hide behind them, especially with his headphones on, and Julia was taking on too many projects and not in the office much while she worked on her dissertation. Eventually she moved offices and our contact was even sparser. Then Jeff started playing pool with Julia's friend, Katie. Julia came along a few times, and later starting tagging along with them to the gym. It turned out that the of us shared a sense of humor and interests in physical training, sci-fi, dancing to '80s music, and space, as well as some similar philosophical views. Most of all, though, we shared a delight in each other's company. We began spending more time together and became fast friends. A lunar eclipse was due to appear over Pittsburgh in the wee hours of the morning on April 15, 2014, and Jeff suggested we watch it together. Julia was skeptical of her ability to stay awake, so put on a movie–Say Anything–to pass the time until the eclipse came out. When the hour was right we went outside. Despite the cloudy night, we caught intermittent glimpses of the moon, growing dark and then deep pink. While we were waiting for a wave of clouds to pass, Jeff spun Julia around and kissed her for the first time. It was a very good kiss.

Ever since our first kiss, we go on a date night every month on the full moon. These are our "moonaversaries," and they are a touchstone of our relationship. They are a time we look forward to every month In Pittsburgh, we would go to a restaurant called Salt of the Earth every moonaversary, and in San Francisco we went to a Peruvian fish place in the beach town of Pacifica called Puerto 27. Since moving to Lexington, we've changed our approach, and we try a new restaurant every month on the full moon. Every April, during the first full moon of the month (it came up once), we celebrate "annimoonaversary" as our anniversary of dating. These are especially meaningful times for us, and we use our annimoonaversary dates to check in on our relationship, surprise each other, and reaffirm our deepening love for each other. Our first annimoonaversary came just before Julia defended her dissertation, shortly after we had decided how we would confront our encounter with "the two body problem." During our second annimoonaversary we were struggling to see our future in San Francisco, and we found a rare moment of joy and peace out west. During our third annimoonaversary, Jeff proposed, and on our fourth annimoonaversary, April 29, 2018, we will celebrate our first full day as a married couple. April 29, 2018 will also be our 50th full moon together, and we are so excited to be able to share this very special time in our relationship with our guests.

For our third annimoonaversary, we took a picnic dinner out to the lake in the field where Julia's horse lives. It was the first night of Passover, so we'd decided not to go to a restaurant and instead brought cheeses, salad, and smoked fish down to the shore. The horses briefly wandered by. We drank wine that we'd gotten at Chateau Montelena, and after dinner we set up our telescope by the barn to watch the moon. We saw our moon, and then we found Jupiter and saw each of the four Galilean moons distinctly. It was a very special viewing. We went back down to the shore to eat (kosher for Passover!) pie, and as we sat watching the night sky Jeff took Julia by the hand and walked her over to a clearing. He got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. She agreed joyfully! Julia may have suspected it was coming, and made a stuffed bear with a t-shirt that said "yes!", which she handed him after the proposal.

Julia’s engagement ring is white gold with meteorite inlay and a synthetic diamond that is set flush into the band. The meteorite is a nickel-iron alloy with Widmanstätten patterning, which can't be reproduced on the timescale of earthbound alloying. It is an extraordinary ring, and a piece of jewelry that fits beautifully with our interests and with Julia's lifestyle. The diamond was made by a company named after Ada Lovelace, an early computer programmer. Jeff did a very good job of designing the ring and surprising Julia with the design. The wedding bands, designed and crafted by our friend Anya Weitzman, are white gold with yellow gold insets. At our request, Anya embedded bits of a moon meteorite into the yellow gold insets, creating our own pieces of moon for us to wear together. By coincidence, both sets of rings match the design of the engagement ring that Jeff’s grandmother received from Jeff’s grandfather, which contains an inset ruby. Julia wears the ruby ring on lunar eclipses, when the moon turns red.