Kevin's Story
(as told by Ariel)

Our story begins in the fall of 2021. It was a pivotal moment in my life- I was in my seasonal transition between my Halloween playlist and my Christmas playlist, settling into a new team at Google, and preparing to teach my first virtual class as an adjunct professor. After two years of COVID isolation, I was finally, cautiously, ready to interact with humans again.

I met Ariel for our first date on a warm November afternoon in Menlo Park, Ca. I pulled up to “The Refuge” brewery on my bike a few minutes early, wearing cargo shorts and my blue owl "Trampled by Turtles" t-shirt. I was sweaty and slightly disheveled,  assuming I’d have a moment to smooth down my helmet hair and catch my breath before she arrived.

Naturally, that was the one and only time in Ariel’s life that she was early. There she was, dressed like a cold Californian in a winter coat, watching me intently with those giant eyes while I tried to look calm and casual locking up my sweet ride.

My first impression was relief. She probably wasn't a catfish? She looked about the same shape and age as her Bumble photos, hell maybe even a little cuter.

We spent the next four hours talking and drinking, I did most of the talking and she did most of the drinking. By the time we hit the second bar in a 500 ft radius, Ariel had realized that I wasn’t just disarmingly handsome and hilarious, but also smart and creative, and that “Random Walk Theory" wasn’t just an overpriced Silicon Valley cocktail, but one of my favorite mathematical concepts. Meanwhile I realized  that Ariel wasn’t just shy and a little awkward, but also an unabashed weirdo with a fascinating perspective. When she delightedly pointed out that a tree behind our table "had a face," I felt a strange flutter in my chest. Was that my heart beating? Had I just met my future wife?

The next year was a whirlwind. I met Ariel’s old dog Sam, her entire immediate family, and her oddly tight-knit group of neighbors. She met my formidable Lego collection, tried to keep pace with my closest friends over virtual beers, and discovered the true meaning of “East Coast energy.”

On one of our earliest dates I tried to impress Ariel by taking her to a "hidden oasis" I’d discovered on one of my traditional weekend Subway lunches. She gently informed me that secret park was actually just the field behind her middle school. I guess romance is dead. This was one of many moments that made us realize we would probably need to leave the Bay Area to build a life that felt like our own.

In December 2022, we took an icy road trip through the Pacific Northwest and set our sights on Skinner's Mud Hole (AKA Eugene, Oregon). It was artsy, weird, liberal, had small town vibes- exactly what we imagined for a new place we might call home. I took the leap and bought a house there, and by fall of 2023, Ariel moved in.

The day dreams we had been talking about started coming to fruition. Ariel joined the local art community, and I got to start keeping 50 thousand bees in my own garden.

Last fall, I finally decided to let Ariel make an honest man of me. I walked up to her art booth at the Saturday Market while she was selling her animal paintings and ceramic ghosts, completely unaware of what was about to befall her, got down on one creaky knee, and asked her to marry me. She looked around confused and said What!? Well…OK but how many goats will you bring to this marriage?

This fall, perhaps the most  pivotal one yet, Ariel and I are getting ready to welcome our daughter, and 🤞 wife-willing another 50,000 bees into our world.