Change the date!!! April 30, 2022

Many of you are aware we were thinking about postponing our big wedding. Now, it’s official. We feel like the point of a big celebration is to share our special day with those we love the most. The news of a potential vaccine is encouraging, but we doubt the travel situation will improve much by May, definitely not for the folks coming from Brazil. Even for the ones who could travel and would be willing to take the risk, we feel like it would be irresponsible to bring so many out-of-town folks to a community that has stayed relatively safe. Our new date is April 30th, 2022. In the meantime, please wear a mask, be safe, be responsible. We can’t wait to celebrate with all of you! _________________________________________ Muitos de vocês sabem que estávamos pensando em adiar nossa festa casamento. Agora é oficial. Pra nós, o objetivo de uma grande celebração é compartilhar nosso dia especial com aqueles que mais amamos. A notícia de uma eventual vacina é animadora, mas a gente duvida que as condições de viagem melhorem muito até maio – com certeza não para o pessoal que vem do Brasil. Mesmo aqueles que poderiam viajar e estariam dispostos a correr o risco, sentimos que seria irresponsável trazer tantas pessoas de fora para uma comunidade que permaneceu relativamente segura. Nossa nova data é 30 de abril de 2022. Enquanto isso, usem máscara, sejam responsáveis. Mal podemos esperar para comemorar com todos vocês! Rafa & Andrew

As I browsed the most reputable of apps in search of a long term committed relationship partner, with special attention paid to personality and wholesome virtuous characteristics of course, I encountered something… unexpected. Before me was a photo of a woman holding a sea turtle on a vessel of indeterminate nature. I thought “this warrants investigation,” either an Instagram model was exploiting the profound cuteness and charisma of an endangered species, or this could be a scientist. I was understandably perplexed; the sea turtle was clearly a juvenile, no bigger than two loaves of bread, and apparently had been captured in the wild, +1 for my scientist theory. However, the gorgeous locks of gently wind swept hair and oversized reflectively tinted sunglasses suggested a foul plot afoot, +1 Instagram model. As I scrolled through her other photos, there were also lions and tigers (luckily, she was not in fact, Carol Baskin), though there was an absence of bears (not Dorothy either), +1 for a scientist. There were also photos of cheerleading and sunbathing on beaches, +1 Instagram model. Then as fate would have it, I noticed a tiny, innocuous piece of jewelry, that hung from the neck of one of her companions as they frolicked on the beach with a buoyancy device in the shape of a domesticated ungulate. A simple pendant, often confused for the zodiac symbol for Cancer. But to the learned eye, it was not jewelry at all. It was a closing pin for a skydiving container. My curiosity piqued, I zoomed in to assess the identity of this gravity enamored companion. Lo and behold, she and I were acquainted. I thought “this could be a good conversation starter.” I then mustered my courage, swiped right (as was the tradition at the time) and in Shakspearian prose eloquently professed, “hey, I know your friend Bianca.” The die were cast into the digital pools of fate, and the rest as they say, is history.

I know, Tinder doesn’t sound very romantic. Tinder had always been a joke to me, I never considered joining an app where the guy already knows you’re looking for someone. Like, where is your leverage? How do you play? I just didn’t get it. But desperate times call for desperate measures. It went like, 50 left swipes for each right swipe. Then I saw Andrew. I remember he had horrible photos – I could not see his face, literally. One photo was of him skydiving (cool, right), and one of him WITH TWO GIRLS in wetsuits. However, what I took from this was: this guy is completely clueless about how to Tinder, which was a good sign. He is a skydiver, a scuba diver, a biology major, and fits my age restrictions. Good enough. Swipe right. That night I thought I had been too picky, there would certainly be no matches. Well, the next morning there were more notifications on my phone than I could handle. So, I did the only logical thing: I took a screenshot of the profiles of the “best candidates”, and I sent them to my friends so they could vote. Isis, “the wise one” liked him immediately, so Andrew made it to the short-list. To my surprise, Bianca said she knew him, they used to skydive together. WHAT? What are the odds, right? May I dare say, DESTINY? So, I asked her if he was a psychopath, to which she replied “no, he’s actually really nice.” With that, he immediately jumped to top candidate. After some back and forth texting with Andrew, I decided to invite him to join me, Bianca, and others at the Skydive Space Center in Titusville, FL on May 16th, 2015. You know, he knew Bianca, I knew Bianca, there were other friends around us, so it wouldn’t be weird. And it wasn’t! We all went for beers after we jumped, and it was a fun afternoon. We added each other on Facebook and kept in touch. He liked to play hard to get, which obviously piqued my interest. It took me a couple of dates to finally get a kiss out of him, but oh well, here we are. Well played, mister <3

It was one of those weekends when everything goes perfect. We woke up Saturday morning and the day was so beautiful, I just wanted to do something outside. So, I suggested we check the water taxi tours available, and there was a boat leaving to Bird Shoal in 30 min. I suggested we made some mimosas to take with us, which, to my surprise, Andrew agreed to enthusiastically (it was still 11am, he is normally more of an evening enjoyer of libations). So, we headed to a gas station, and they didn’t have any nice champagne (duh) so we bought a Smirnoff Screwdriver. So off we went, a deserted island, bare feet, holding hands, looking for dolphins, admiring the view. At some point I found an adorable shell that still had both sides attached, and Andrew offered to keep it for me, since he had pockets. We walked for about an hour, and on our way back we saw a can in the water, and Andrew said he was going to go pick it up. He was taking too long, so I started approaching as well. He said, “there is something else here”; I didn’t think much of it, and I was worried that we were still pretty far from our pickup location, so I said, “come on, let’s go” At that point I was pretty close to him, he turned and said, “there’s something else in here.” And then I saw the ring, nestled inside the shells I had found earlier. So I said the most logical thing that came to mind, “oh no somebody lost their ring in the ocean!” Andrew started kneeling and saying words. I don’t remember the words, my brain was short-circuiting. There were a lot of thoughts in my mind, including the fact that I had literally planned our entire weekend; how in the world had this turned out so perfectly if I didn't know I was planning a proposal? I didn’t believe it was actually happening until I saw his hands shaking, still kneeling, the words started making sense. There were a lot of yeses, kissing, and maybe some tears involved. On our way back, we bought some real champagne and all the FaceTiming started

The age old questions that have haunted many a fiancé to be weaved in and out of my thoughts for months. How should I propose? When should I propose? How can I keep it a secret? I feared being too cliché yet too mundane or without creativity. After much contemplation and many possible scenarios imagined, I arrived at a brilliant but simple solution. The best plan, was no plan at all. Ring in hand, and one narrowly missed occasion that involved an amorous porpoise, malfunctioning jacuzzi, and a lot of rain behind me, I boarded my flight from Gainesville to New Bern. Following a mutual display of martial prowess of hucking axes at things and an exceptionally tasty meal on the first day, we found ourselves in the company of our old friends, chance and spontaneity, once more. After searching for further entertainment, we discovered an escape room nearby in downtown Beaufort that neither of us had been to. Our adventure ended abruptly when arriving at the building, we discovered it was closed. We then began to meander the Beaufort waterfront, wouldn’t you know it, the next ferry to Bird Shoal Island, where we had paddled to see the 2017 Solar eclipse, was in 30 minutes. Provisions acquired we departed as the only two passengers to the island. When we arrived we found the beach mostly deserted. We walked and talked, picked up shells and splashed our feet in the surf, and I eventually realized that this was going to be the moment. I just needed to decide on where on the beach and how soon before I asked the question. I took a moment to watch Rafa walking in front of me, holding back my excitement and appreciating how lucky I was to have the opportunity to ask her to marry me. Excitement quickly turned to mild panic as I realized I had neglected a very important preparation, I had no idea what to say. Nevertheless, I came up with a simple but elegant oration. The next huddle I discovered was how to get the ring, now in my back pocket, into my hand without being noticed.

You may think this an easy task, but when you are the only two people on the beach and only a seagull’s wingspan apart, it’s a challenge. I was struck with an epiphany, not unlike Newton and his apple, but it was Andrew and his weathered aluminum can. There it lay, like a shimmering beacon of truth and clarity just beneath the crystalline water. Not to expose my rouse, I paid it little attention as we walked past. The final pieces started to come together in my mind and I felt at ease, confident in both my plan and that the timing was perfect. After we started walking back to where we would meet the water taxi and toward the can, excitement and nervousness grew with each sandy step, until the can came into view. I had waded out to the can with the ring and a shell in my hand, but now I had to put the ring into said shell, while standing in shin deep water, the danger of dropping it high; and Rafa was now watching my every movement. I needed a diversion. “I think something is in there” I said sheepishly as I bent down to conceal my hands while pretending to inspect the can more closely. The ring now successfully in the shell after a little fumbling, I turned to see Rafa staring straight at me, there was no way to conceal what I was holding, the moment had come. Rafa looked on curiously as I walked the three to four fishing rod lengths back to her. “What is it?” she inquired. With trembling hands I began to separate the two halves of the departed bivalve. “Someone lost a ring!” she exclaimed. At first, I was struck with admiration at Rafa’s quick witted sense of humor, but then I realized she was sincere in her exclamation. As I knelt and said the lines I rehearsed with a shaking voice, the look of complete and total surprise flashed over Rafa’s face. Stunned, her response took what could only be described as a slightly uncomfortable amount of time. But luckily for me, and because you’re reading this story, you already know how it ends.