April 30, 2013

After chatting for a few weeks online, we met for our first date at 8th Street Wine Cellar in the West Village. Before long we were holding hands and smiling ear to ear.

A few weeks later, we squeezed in a quick drink in the East Village before Vinod's flight to Rio. A woman who was sitting at the next table stopped by us as she was leaving and said "You two make the cutest couple." It felt like a sprinkle of fate on a budding romance.

We started dating, and sometime in June 2013 we met up with some of Vinod's friends for a lazy stroll near Central park, where our first photo together was taken.

Making memories with new and old friends together.

Celebrating festivals together.

Traveling to far away places together.

In summer 2015, we both were faced with a difficult choice.

Upon graduating from Columbia, Vinod had a job offer in New York City at a financial firm, but also a dream job offer as a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University. At the same time, Sam decided to go back to college, and had offers from San Francisco Conservatory of Music as well as Mannes in New York City.

We decided to prioritize our careers and make the long distance relationship work. Vinod decided to move across the country to join Stanford, and Sam decided to stay in New York to attend Mannes.

Long distance was hard but we were fortunate be able to visit each other often, (rack up airline miles,) and make some more friends, too...

In late summer of 2017 Vinod took Sam to India for the first time. We spent time in Mumbai and Pune, hanging out with friends, before traveling south to Kerala...

In the fall of 2017 Sam had to take a hiatus from his studies. He found a job in the administration at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and (very) quickly made arrangements to move to San Francisco. We found a small one-bedroom apartment in the Castro. We quickly settled into the next chapter, living together in SF...

Siva and Sophia were adopted in the summer of 2018.

They are as destructive as they are adorable...

Vinod has been at Google for five years, Sam finished a couple of degrees at SFCM and is now a member of their faculty.

We survived the global pandemic, we moved to a bigger place, our nieces and nephews have grown, loved ones have been lost, the kitties are five years old, friends have gotten married, we've gotten married, and just a few days before the belated celebration of our wedding, the 11th anniversary of our first date will pass.

We're so grateful for your presence in our lives and excited to celebrate our relationship with so many dear friends and family!