This is our first picture together, taken a month or so after we first met. We met on December 6, 2017 and we are getting married (the Indian way) on December 6, 2019! Did we totally see this happening on our first date? Well, you're going to have to read the story to find out!
P.S. Dimple says "Don't believe his innocent face" :)
Dimple loves to travel! She considered flights/ in-air as her home after traveling around the world for over 5 years. During her first few months in Seattle to be 'grounded' was a very interesting change. And then she met Anukul, who absolutely loves... Seattle.
Anukul likes to travel. When Dimple & Anukul first started chatting on Coffee Meets Bagel/ text, he was headed to Miami and Costa Rica, and Dimple to Austin. He found it fascinating that Dimple had been to Miami earlier and had recommendations to share. Dimple was just envious of his travel to Costa Rica - a long time place on her list. That led to an interesting series of texts and first picture shares.
P.S. One thing Anukul waited until much later to share with Dimple - his body is allergic to travel! He falls sick every.single.time!
Over time, Anukul and Dimple found a way to travel together and make it work for themselves! In 2018, Anukul surprised Dimple with tickets to Rome for her birthday. After that, Dimple took over with her meticulous planning, including some obsessive travel lists, hunting for the best gelatos (read: Giolitti in Rome), and buying all the Italy travel books she could get her hands on.
Jokes aside, (lists are never a joke) they really enjoyed traveling around this beautiful country. With one airpod in each ear, they listened to Rick Steves' audiobooks and immersed themselves into the culture and history. The best part of the trip was watching Anukul awe-stopping in front of The Colosseum and The Pantheon, saying "I cannot believe that is 2000 years old" and then looking at Dimple to say "You're halfway there!"
Soon after the first anniversary (December 6 is what we celebrate and will continue to celebrate), Anukul surprised Dimple with yet another trip, this time one to Lake Chelan (~3 hours drive from Seattle). The trip was planned from December 28-31 to avoid any holiday crowds and come back just in time to celebrate New Years Eve with family and friends. Anukul insisted on planning the trip this time as Dimple was under the weather (suspicious, but unwell).
They got through 2 days of wine tasting, hot tub-ing, star gazing and vacationing. On Dec 30 around 11:30pm, Anukul suggested they go out for a walk. In Lake Chelan. During winter (~24 degF). Dimple, like any sane person, politely declined trying to avoid at all costs (1) a stroll in the cold winter in an isolated spot at midnight (2) changing out of her very comfortable PJs. It took Anukul about 20 minutes of guilt-trip-convincing Dimple to change and get her out. She agreed for the walk but refused to change out of her PJs.
The midnight stroll was dark, cold and definitely isolated. They were walking on a bridge covered with very few Christmas lights. There was nobody else on the road. Dimple, a little scared like any sane person, held on to Anukul's arms tightly while Anukul was talking about stars and wanting to walk down to the dock area. When Dimple politely declined and explained that she would like to avoid them slipping into a freezing lake, Anukul said "so this is where it's going to be..." and he proposed to Dimple on the bridge with stars bearing as their witness.
Dimple was crying as Anukul had succeeded in creating a perfect surprise for her. This picture was taken at 12:04am on December 31, 2018 and you can see big smiles, tears of joy and a ring that was a size (or 4) bigger for her finger :)
When they were walking back, Anukul looks to Dimple, "Don't you wish now that you had changed?"