Welcome to the celebrations!

Ashley was working in San Mateo. She signed up for a dating website, not knowing she would be meeting her future husband. Ram was in San Jose working as a Sales Engineer in technology. They started talking online and made a plan to meet each other. They chose to meet half way in between in Palo Alto at the Patio, a restaurant. Ashley was an hour late and full of apologies for being late. Traffic after work and finding parking held her up. Ram and Ashley talked for hours and had an instant connection. They continued to see each other, playing tennis, hiking and working out together. Guess it’s true, that a couple who works out together stays together!

Ram and Ashley share passion and love for travel. They started taking trips together and exploring the Bay Area together. Ram surprised Ashley with a breathtaking trip to Maui. She mentioned that she never went to Hawaii despite being from California. He wanted to take her there and experience Hawaii together. They spent their days at the pool, the beach, hiking to the waterfalls, watching sunsets and chasing rainbows. They went zip lining together and a circular rainbow appeared, perhaps it was a promise of things to come!

Ashley was thinking of running and thought of doing a half marathon. Ram had run several half marathons and helped her train. They ran together gradually training to increase their mileage 1 mile or so a week. Their dates turned into running dates. They enrolled in the Half Marathon in Monterey. Ram was by her side in the beginning to start the race off together and was there cheering for her when she finished the race. Despite the delayed onset muscle soreness, they knew they had an experience they would never forget and would bring them closer together.

Ram played golf and Ashley would join him as a hot caddie and driving the golf cart, sometimes putting. Things closed down with COVID, but golf did not. Gradually, Ashley spent more time at the golf course and started to take up golfing. They would start playing golf on their dates. When they took trips, they started adding golf into their travel plans. They would also take trips to wine country visiting wineries and playing golf before their visits, making the wine tasting that much more sweeter. They volunteered together for PGA tour for the first time including Barracuda in Lake Tahoe and Fortinet in Napa as fairway marshals spotting the bad balls on the fairway and gallery management hushing the crowds while the pros played golf. They enjoy the ocean and wanted to get involved in water sports. They started to do SUP (aka standup paddle boarding). They got a board and went to the water together. While they do SUP locally, they also have traveled to Lake Tahoe to try it out as well as even doing SUP during their trip to Jamaica in 2022.

Ram wanted to share travel with Ashley. They have circumvented the North America visiting several places in US East coast, West and Central as well as Mexico including Cabo San Lucas and Cancun and Toronto, Canada. Each experience was unique and special on its own, bringing them closer together. They decided to go more south, but COVID affected some of their travels. They decided to go anyway and went to Santiago, Chile. Chile was more closed during this time so they ended up extending their trip to Costa Rica. This is one of their favorite trips as Ashley learned to surf for the first time in Jaco with the help of surfing lessons from the locals. They drove through the country from Jaco to Guanacaste and Tamarindo. The pura-vida lifestyle is one they truly enjoyed! .

Ram and Ashley decided to go to Hawaii again, to Oahu this time during July 4th weekend. Hawaii always held a special place in their heart from their first big trip to Maui. This time it was different as Ram had made surprise plans to propose to Ashley. Ashley had no clue. Ram mentioned we should go to the ocean to visit and catch the sunset. They prepared to go the beach. They went to Sunset Beach in the North Shore. The beach was aptly named as it was getting closer to sunset with sun setting in the Pacific Ocean. They walked to the beach and Ram guided her to a place that was decorated with a heart of flowers in the sand where he proposed with song playing in the background “Be my baby.” They could enjoy the rosy skies over the ocean taking their first steps as an engaged couple.