Six Years Later

We met on OKCupid right before finals week at Stanford only to find out that we had already signed up to be in the same couples' dancing class the next quarter. Sanaa came straight to the first date after an all-nighter finishing a paper. We had coffee at Cafe Venetia and then walked and talked for so long that University Avenue shops ended and we found ourselves somewhere in suburban Palo Alto. We saw each other every day until Spring break, and when Sanaa came back Dima immediately asked her to be his girlfriend on April Fools Day 2012. Turned out it wasn't a joke.

The first thing we did after getting together was lie down in the sun on the Stanford lawn and read Game of Thrones to each other. Over the years Dima got Sanaa into Game of Thrones and the Star Wars Extended Universe, and Sanaa got Dima into Harry Potter, anime conventions and JRPGs. Together we've gotten into cosplay, D&D, dancing, Disneyland and board games.

Dima and Sanaa have always taken long walks to and on Stanford campus, but in early 2017 the tradition had been derailed by the weather. After years of drought it had been raining for most of six months when one weekend, the sun finally came out. It was a month before Dima’s thesis defense, and the two decided to go out that day. Dima already had the rings and was anxiously planning where and when he’d propose, so this day felt like a perfect test run. He mentioned that he wanted to see the Stanford Memorial Church – not today, but maybe next time. The next day he told her the previous day had been so wonderful he wanted to do it again, though coaxing her off the couch when Persona 5 had only been out a few weeks was a challenge (though it was a good cover to pick out a nice dress for her as if he was just trying to get her dressed and out of the house). They went out again, and this time he was ready. Dima steered the conversation to romantic topics and tried (with limited success) to be subtle about texting the photographer who was waiting for their arrival. When they got to MemChu they briefly went in, and Dima disappeared. When Sanaa stepped outside looking for him he got on his knee, said something neither of them remember, and asked. She said “yes!” and he placed the ring on her finger. She took the other ring and asked him if he, too, would marry her. And he too said “yes!”