Getting married!!

Ali: We met at Sad Song Singalong, a super cathartic monthly jam sesh hosted by our friends Jed and Rodrigo. I saw Aaron and was instantly smitten. Perhaps it was magic in the air, or perhaps it was that I was in the process of freezing my eggs and in a state of hyper-fertility know as “medically horned up.” Despite my absolutely abysmal flirting, Aaron was charmed, and I discovered I was even more smitten when the hormones wore off. Tale as old as time. Aaron: “Wow...” -Beginning of a journal entry I wrote at 3am the night we met. So there I was, in the kitchen at Sad Song Singalong, my favorite party in LA, talking to a charming couple I’d just met about this George Saunders-inspired Russian short story bookclub I’d started with my friend Jacques. You know, real cool stuff. When I'd first come to this monthly party a year or so before, I remember saying to myself “Now THIS is the place to meet someone.” It was perfect. Especially for a bad-at-online-dating-guy like me. Our mutual friends and hosts Jed and Rod have such a wonderful circle of kind, intelligent, cool, talented, (but dorky enough to want to sing songs together) friends that I knew this was the place. Of course, by this time, I’d been to 8 or so of these and never met anyone in that way. Plenty of fun friends, but no butterflies yet. I was finally ok with the fact that maybe it wouldn’t happen, so on this night, I was just there to have fun. Of course, just when I’m done trying, I meet an angel. Back to the kitchen: Me and my new friends are talking, laughing, enjoying a break in the singing, when I see the glint of this radiant smile. She was standing there, awkwardly, sweetly, like, 2 feet away from us, nodding along like she was a part of our conversation (she wasn’t). So I, being the polite boy Jim and Rosie raised, invited her to join us. If nothing else, to make things less awkward for her. (CONTINUED IN PART 2...)

She joined in without skipping a beat (I mean she had been listening for...the whole time possibly?) (Ali's note: yep!). She was funny. She was cute. She seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. I liked everything she was saying. We talked about books, about writing, about comedy and how much we loved this party. I think I called her “old” at some point like a huge idiot? (Ali's note: yep!) I mean, I was so out of practice at this point that I’m not even sure I noticed what was happening. Eventually, thankfully, our friends did see what was happening and slinked away, leaving us alone and deeply engaged.

When the singing started up again in the other room, we looked at each other and said let’s go sing. Then... it happened. That moment where you’re like, “is this…are we…is she?…Oh My God!…She is!!!!" We locked eyes and leaned in for our first kiss. Cue cinematic music and fanfare. It was magic. I’m talking unicorns riding on rainbows over enchanted forests magic. Sure, technically, Ali was "medically horned up.” And I was technically, medically, “desperate.” But still, I knew right away this was special. We proceeded to talk and make-out like teenagers for the rest of the night, missing most of the singing. I was hooked. It wasn’t just the physical attraction, though that was undeniable. There was something about her. It felt like I’d been waiting for this person for my whole life, but had forgotten until now. I’d almost given up. Then, along come Ali. I felt like I was waking up. She had this spark, this special mind. This laugh. That smile. I was entranced. I had to see her again. I said something like “I know you’re going through this difficult process right now so no rush. I’ll do whatever we need to do to see you again. I’ll wait a month, I’ll wait two! Just, whenever you’re ready, I’d like to take you out.” We exchanged numbers and, as we said our goodbyes, (and got hooted at from some late-comers for our unabashed make-out sesh), she drove away. I went inside and confirmed with our mutual friend Jed that Ali was indeed special and we should definitely go out. I was immediately worried I’d screw this up, but even more excited at the prospect of what this could be. I went home, wrote a little journal entry so I wouldn’t forget how I was feeling, and then proceeded to butt-dial facetime Ali while I was talking ABOUT HER to my neighbor. Of course. I was so excited. I’m still so excited. I think I knew it that night, but was afraid to say it out loud. I had just met my wife.

Ali: Luckily, we got to go on seven or eight dates before March of 2020. But we weren’t ready to quarantine together. We began to Facetime every night, eventually adding weekly distance dates, until deciding to spend weekends together starting May 15th. During this time we read each other a number of books, a tradition that has one-sidedly continued to this day. My vocal cords are very delicate. Aaron: Vocal cords. Vocal cords, she says! OKAY. Ask her how long it took her to read me "Shopgirl" which is a NOVELLA. Oh wait, you can't, because she hasn't even finished.

Ali: Perfect. Completely effortless. Aaron: When we started to quarantine separately (for what ended up being a 2+ months), I started sending Ali pictures of flowers I'd find on my walks every day. I eventually ended up with over 400+ pictures of flowers. For Christmas, I gave her 2 framed collages of all the pictures interspersed with pictures of us. So when it was time to ask, I knew I really wanted to fill the house with flowers. For the engagement, I had to get the flowers there secretly since we showed up to the air b n b in Running Springs late on Friday night. So I found a local florist, gave her a budget, paid a little extra to deliver them behind the house in a hidden location and the flowers where there waiting for me when Ali went to sleep that night! When we got in, she went right to bed and I got to work filling the house with flowers and pictures of us in a rose-petal pathway that started at the bottom of the steps, led into the living room and out to a beautiful deck. In the morning, she woke up, I ran upstairs to get the final things ready and then turned on our song (Picture in a Frame by Tom Waits). She walked up, saw the flowers, followed the petals, started to realize what was happening as she made it out to the scene on the deck. And that's when she saw...the cupcake in the chair! We have ongoing bets where the loser has to sit on a cupcake. We like to surprise each other with the sitting (Ali has gotten me so good before), so just as I'd hoped, for a short second, Ali thought "wait, this is NOT the proposal I thought it was, but instead an elaborate cupcake prank?!" So I said, you sit here, and I...kneel here. I had another surprise cupcake for my knee. I knelt down on the giant cupcake, brought out the ring and asked Ali, now laughing, crying and sitting on a cupcake (3 actually, with heart strawberries on them), if she'd marry me. It was 7am, we were both covered in cupcake, in our pjs, laughing and crying. It was just what I'd hoped for.

We chose Circle Bar B because it's the perfect place to host a weekend of fun, and we chose this weekend so that we could celebrate Easter, Passover and Ramadan with our nearest and dearest. If you choose, join us for a singalong like the one we met at, a Passover Seder, an Easter egg hunt, horseback riding, hiking, wine tasting, beach time, lounging by the pool, a jigsaw puzzle... We'll also do the marrying part at some point. We have the place booked all weekend, and can't wait to host you all. In October 2021, the Alisal fire came very close to burning down Circle Bar B, a multigenerational ranch. Most of the buildings were spared, but much of their acreage was decimated. We feel so fortunate that we can share this special day with the Brown family as they rebuild.