Once upon a time in the summer of 2012, a young woman and a young man went to Paris. Both had gone for vacation with their respective families. She was a bookworm and still a student. He was a tea enthusiast and owned his own business. Through divine intervention (mostly by the random chance of their sisters meeting at a California Wedding two weeks prior to the vacation), they found themselves sitting side by side at Cafe Rousillon meeting for the first time.
They had less than a two hour conversation that consisted mostly about books and writing since she was completing her BA in English and he had already received his a few years ago. They talked about how much they loved the city of Paris,
The Sun Also Rises, and
The Great Gatsby. He loved poetry, T.S. Elliot was a favorite poet of his. And she told him about her crazy dream of being a writer one day.
Then as the sun started to set on the city of love, they departed, never knowing if they'd ever see each other again.
The young woman, however, was somewhat of a hopeless romantic (although she wouldn't admit it then), and sent him a message (oh the wonders, of Facebook), and he replied by giving her his e-mail address.
When the two returned to the States, she in California and he in Washington, the two began exchanging letters. The letters went on and as they started to get to know one another, the letters held promise. Without realizing it, they fell for one another.
The letters went on all fall and all winter until he asked her to be his Valentine. She accepted, though they were unable to see one another. The letters soon stopped after that, but the conversations went on through phone and video calls. After she received her degree, they made plans to finally meet again and celebrate a late Valentine's date on April 14, 2013.
That day she flew from Sacramento to Seattle with luggage in hand to stay for two weeks. She could hardly breathe the whole plane ride over. When she did arrive, she found the young man waiting for her at the gate, with purple irises in hand.
Later that night, they finally had their date at The Pink Door in Seattle and have been dating ever since.
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| April 14, 2013 |
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| April 14, 2014 |
The End
(for now)
Yesterday marked Michael and I's one year anniversary. We celebrated not just for ourselves, but in celebration of our amazing families and friends who supported us and helped us get to where we are now. Love is never an easy endeavor, so we thank you all for pushing us and believing in us. We are forever indebt to you all, and of course, the city of love, for bringing us together. May we have many, many, years hereafter.
Below are some photos of our date last night! We recreated our first date by grabbing pre-dinner drinks at The Tasting Room, dinner at The Pink Door, and a night cap at Liberty Bar.
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| The Tasting Room in 2013 |
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| The Tasting Room in 2014 |
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| Apz! At The Pink Door while watching the trapeze artist (not pictured) |
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| Cioppino for Michael |
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| The most amazing piece of lasagna ever, for myself! |
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| Our Desserts! |
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| Opening gifts :) |
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| Opening gifts :) |
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| Nightcap at Liberty |
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| Irises from 2013 |
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Four amethst stone bracelet
for the four seasons we've been together!
2014 |
*Fun Facts:
-Michael went to Cafe Rousillon with his sister Cristine to meet my sister Dao (I tagged along :P)
-Michael and I met the couple who got married at the wedding where Cristine and Dao met, about a year later at Cristine and Tim's wedding.
-Michael and I's first movie date was Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby
-All of our letters are bounded into a private book that I gave to Michael as a gift
-Michael was my date for my sister's wedding and I was his date for his sister's wedding (both weddings occurred in the summer of 2013)
-If you haven't noticed, our names are the masculine and feminine forms of the same name
-I am the youngest sibling in my family, he is the oldest in his
-Our age differs by 4 years, our birthdays by 4 months, and it also took 4 months from our first date for me to move to Seattle
