Our Story
We met on February 25th, 2017 at a tech conference at the historic Castro Theatre in San Francisco where Somaya was volunteering and Monica was attending with a mutual connection at the coding school we both attended. Monica saw Somaya from across the room, asked our shared classmate to introduce us, and as the day’s events wound down the three of us talked for hours before leaving each other.
The very next day we ran into each other at school and talked for hours, then did the same the following day and almost every day after that. We got to know each other through unending conversations and quickly became fixtures in each other’s lives. We hosted movie nights for each other to share our favorite media and went to events all over the Bay Area, including several “first dates”—seeing Princess Mononoke at The New Parkway, and museum dates to the Oakland Museum of California and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
After a summer full of happiness and adventure, we made things official on September 28th, 2017.
February 25th 2017
A picture from the very first day we met. Thanks for the introduction, Rae!
The Proposal
On June 21st, 2023, the longest day of the year, Monica woke up with the sun streaming into the windows of the car we had been driving and sleeping in on a road trip across Québec. It was 5am and she couldn’t sleep, so she got out of the car to stretch and take in the sweet scents of the countryside in the early morning. Wanting to share the joy of the moment, she woke Somaya and decided to go catch the sunrise at a nearby beach. Just before we left, Monica pocketed the ring she had been hiding since we had arrived in Québec a few weeks prior.
We strolled across the beach where the St Lawrence river had turned into a gulf, the last barrier before the Atlantic. With the sun rising in the east, a sense of quietude and peace, and the unparalleled smell of nature in the summer, Monica produced the ring, forgot to drop to one knee, and asked Somaya to spend the rest of our lives together. There were tears and then a resounding YES!
We spent the rest of the long day in a hazy bliss. While the world was still asleep, we drove towards Forillon National Park and arrived well before the park opened. We passed the time listening to a custom episode of our favorite trivia podcast that Monica had commissioned. At Forillon, we wandered for much of the day, hiking through lush mixed forest, and ambling over stony beaches. From there we found our way to Percé. We took time to eat and enjoy the boardwalk with a clear view of Percé Rock. Just off of the boardwalk we noticed a lovely waterfront inn and were able to secure same day accommodations. We then joined the relaxed townspeople for evening soft serve as the sun set over the water, then retired for the night happy that we had such a memorable start to the next chapter of our lives.
August 2017
“If we still know each other by 2024, let’s see the next total solar eclipse together in Québec.”
