we're getting married!

Dani and Taylor first met at Charmaine’s rooftop lounge in San Francisco on September 1, 2019. Their first encounter was a quick one-hour date. It was, though, enough time for Taylor to appreciate Dani’s beauty, elegance, energy, and intelligence. It was also enough time for Dani to decide that provided he switched from iPhone to the Android Pixel she managed at Google, Taylor seemed perfectly adequate. Taylor decided to switch to Pixel. Taylor and Dani continued to date over the next couple months. Taylor found Dani’s charisma, intelligence, and character were every bit the equal of her beauty. The couple came to understand they held a solid foundation of shared values. They also had tons of laughs and fun. By November, Dani was ready to invite Taylor to Thanksgiving Dinner with her friends. Taylor accidentally set the Mushroom Wellington they were preparing on fire, but the incident was not without benefit. Taylor valued the patience and emotional intelligence evident in Dani’s moderated response. Might that dense lump of charcoal one day condense into something finer?

A little over two years later, Dani and Taylor’s relationship had developed and deepened. And while the lump of char decidedly still lacked the needed brilliance, Taylor was ready to invest in the couple’s future and in a special token of his love and commitment. And this, he intended to present on during a trip to Hawaii. Dani’s expectation of a more likely nighttime pronouncement enabled Taylor to wear this token of engagement for five hours in nearly plain site without notice while the couple pursued an activity that harkened back to their first trip together. During that earlier trip to Belize Dani fearlessly jumped into an area swarming with sharks and manta rays for her very first snorkeling experience leaving Taylor pressured to follow into a more harrowing dive than his scuba had ever taken him. Two years later, Dani and Taylor were returning to the Big Island after another beautiful, and this time more relaxed, shared snorkeling adventure. Taylor invited Dani onto the mesh net of the catamaran they had boarded. The water rushed quickly by below. Taylor semi-knelt awkwardly on the netting and moved to pull off the ring hidden on his finger. This was indeed a surprise. Taylor shared some eloquent, thoughtful, and heartfelt words, words which never entered Dani’s mind as desperately waited for the relief a feeling Taylor’s token of engagement escape its precarious post over the ocean’s depths and slide onto the security of her index finger. As he later learned his words were mostly lost in the breeze, he took comfort in knowing the moment couldn’t have made Dani’s heart rush any faster. After a quick, “yes,” Dani and Taylor kissed, and they were engaged.