Stefanie and Hussain met in Durham, NC where they were both attending grad school at Duke - Stefanie for her Masters in Nursing and Hussain for his MBA. At that time, Stefanie was also working at the neighboring University of North Carolina Hospital at Chapel Hill (Hussain went to undergrad at UNC over a decade beforehand). Their first date was on March 13, 2014. Hussain set up an amazing date at Bida Manda, a Laotian restaurant in Raleigh, NC.
Since graduation, Hussain and Stef have divided their time between Northern California and Chicago, though Stef cannot wait for Hussain to pack his bags and move out to the Midwest permanently.
The past five years have been a fun ride for the couple with newly made friends and exciting trips to Japan, Portugal, Spain, France, Dubai, Mexico, Hawaii and all over the continental USA. Stef and Hussain are eager to continue their journey together...
Stefanie: I fell in love with Hussain when, after barely knowing him, he offered to take me to clinical at UNC (super early in the morning) and pick me up. He knew I was exhausted from work and graduate school and was sweet enough to allow me a few more minutes of treasured sleep... I was sold! :) He has been my rock ever since. He helped me survive graduate school "studying" with me in the library (I quickly learned this was a social event for the business school students), making me dinner when I actually was studying, and giving me an occasional neck or foot rub. He was by my side when I was cramming for my NP board exam and when I started my first terrifying NP job in the PICU at Stanford Children's Hospital. He supported me when I drove away in tears on my way to Chicago to be closer to my family and start another career adventure... knowing he would soon follow..right Hussain? ;)
Some of my favorite memories with Hussain include the following: dancing in the NYC subway, traveling to Dubai & Paris, road-tripping to Monterey & Napa, making Hussain dress up in a Greek toga for Halloween and everyone being asleep when we got to the party, Hussain bringing me lunch/ dinner at work just to spend a few minutes together during our busy days, running along the ocean in Half Moon Bay, hiking through the Redwoods, getting lost on the drive to Tampa to see Hussain's good friend Prem (Hussain was driving; I was sleeping), enjoying Hussain's laugh, sitting by the pool studying at my apartment in Cary, NC, going to the SF Giants game with my grandparents, running along Embarcadero in SF, journeying to Spain with our friends Meghna & Cheech, visiting Japan (sweating as we walked between World Heritage sites), and spending time with our amazing families and friends.
I'm lucky to have found such a wonderful life partner who shares the same love of family, faith, devotion and adventure. I love you Hussain and can't wait to marry you!
Hussain: Wow this a hard one especially since I read Stef's section first and was initially just planning on keeping this to a couple of sentences :)
Anyways it has been five years since Stef and I met and we have had an incredibly fun journey with the travels through Europe and Asia, the weekend excursions to Monterrey/Napa, and the trips to Wisconsin for thanksgiving breaks. Stef has also been the best possible partner not only through the fun times, but also as my pillar of strength through some tough times - not least the "hell" of those associate years in investment banking.
Stef and I are very different in many ways - she is emotional and I am not; she is calm and I am told I have a bad temper; I generally like keeping conversations short and it takes 10 min for Steff to even come to her point about anything :)....but despite these differences our core principals and values remain very similar which really draws us to each other. I love Stefanie and can't be more excited for the journey ahead!