Saum and I are so similar in some ways and complete opposites in others. It’s almost as if we were living parallel lives—until, thanks to Gretchen and Ray, our paths finally crossed. Both of us take pride in celebrating different things: Saum loves the 4th of July and Holiday Season, while I’m all about Halloween, Oktoberfest and the Super Bowl. In our 20s, Saum was living it up in San Francisco, going out and making memories, while I was doing the exact same thing across the country in New York City. Then there’s this crazy coincidence: when Saum threw her 30th birthday party in Miami while living in Chicago, I was doing the reverse—throwing mine in Chicago while living in Miami. It’s like we were meant to meet, but just kept missing each other. Ray, who’s been one of my closest friends since our first day at JP Morgan back in 2005, had never sounded weirder than when he awkwardly suggested I meet his random friend of his for a drink. I wasn’t convinced, but figured, why not? I wasn’t expecting much; after all, I was loving my Miami groove—cold plunges, Coconut Grove, and beach sessions. Plus, I wasn’t exactly eager to trek to frigid Chicago. Oops. Saum gave me exactly one hour between her meetings, so we met at a nearby bar—a spot that’s now one of our favorites—on a Monday at 4 PM. The place was empty. It was just us. I tried to impress her with my knowledge of cocktails, US airports, and Denmark—topics I thought would get me somewhere—but she effortlessly countered everything I said. What I didn’t expect was how easy it was to talk to her. She made me want to know everything about her, and by the end of that “one hour,” I found myself dropping her off two hours later. And just like that, we saw each other five times in the next three days. It felt like a whirlwind—so surreal once she left Miami. But that momentum didn’t stop. It carried us to Napa, then to San Francisco, down to LA, and, when we ended up in Manhattan Beach, I took her to my all-time favorite dive bar. That’s when I knew I was done for—I officially had a girlfriend. Saum invited me to her 40th birthday, where I promptly drank too much single malt and watched her dance from across the room. It was like something out of a 90s movie—everything slowed down, and all I could do was stand there, mouth open, mesmerized. In that moment, I knew she was The One. Of course, in reality, I wasn’t subtle at all. According to her friends, I was just standing 10 feet away, weirdly staring at her, mouth ajar. After that, we kept trading visits between our cities until we finally decided to split our time between them. It’s been an amazing ride so far. She challenges me in the best ways, but she also supports me in this wholehearted way that’s totally her. I feel unbelievably lucky to be marrying Saumya. Boomshakalaka.

On the late evening of my dear friend Steven’s 40th birthday January 2023, I made an excuse of having to fly to Miami for work early the next morning to get out of after-party plans that were being made. It was at that moment my friend Gretchen mentioned that our friend Ray’s best friend Niloy lived in Miami and that I should meet him for a drink. Having shared many painful years of online dating together, I trusted her wholeheartedly in her first ever set-up and immediately said yes. I arrived into Miami and as I grabbed an Uber to the South Beach Loews I received a text from Ray introducing the two of us. From that moment on Niloy and I were on. We began our silly text convo, and when he offered to pick me up I thought, what a gentleman. We planned for an awkward wave as a way to identify each other as we had no idea what the other looked like; it was in fact my first blind date in life! He proceeded to take me to a nearby hip hop cocktail bar (Point 1) for delicious martinis (Point 2) and marcona almonds (Point 3), and needless to say the one hour I had allotted just wasn’t enough. I proceeded to break away five more times throughout the three days in Miami as Niloy wooed me with his engaging personality as I got to know Miami through his eyes. It was pretty incredible (and unusual) for someone like me who rarely left conference mode to feel comfortable bringing him into the inner circle of work friends on day two. We truly fell for each other during a magical Napa trip not far after our first meeting in Miami, and from shared plates to exploring the farmers market and of course delicious wine tastings we really got to know each other. The ease of our natural connection and common lifestyle were of course key indicators of Niloy rising to boyfriend status, but it was the shared passions and similar zest for life that put him at a potential life partner level. Long story short, we made all the effort to start our long-distance relationship and have been on a nonstop adventure rollercoastering and living our best lives. We have been prioritizing our time with our family, friends and Rio as we navigate our lives together and trying to slow down...hopefully someday! It’s funny how life can shift so quickly; looking back at the narrowed view I had when meeting Niloy of having a fun date to looking forward to sharing the rest of my life with him is truly remarkable.