How We Met
It was a random Tuesday after work and apparently we both needed wine. It was clearly fate. But it took us 6 years to realize it.
The Stanford Club of San Francisco was hosting a mixer with the Harvard SF Club at the Press Club downtown (the most elitist-sounding start to a story), and in our separate corners of the Bay, we both contemplated going.
Sarah
In a move that should surprise no one, I procrastinated and missed the registration deadline, but the host was nice enough to add me to the list at the last minute. I coordinated with my soror Carole and we met up after work to arrive fashionably late for fancy wine in a swanky venue.
Michael
I also missed the registration deadline and the host didn’t respond to my email asking if I could attend anyway. But I did! San Francisco was a nice halfway point to meet my California best friend, Nathalie, and the event was a good excuse to make the 45-minute drive into the city and see Nathalie in person.
Sarah
We met up with some other friends and I’m not actually sure if we talked to anyone from Harvard that evening, but I did meet this extremely energetic and outgoing cutie 😉 And in typical Sarah fashion, he was immediately friendzoned.
Michael
The first person I met that night was a Harvard grad who reminded me of a stellar manager I met during my Ernst & Young internship. I also met a few other Harvard grads but I exchanged info with only two Harvard people but at least 4 people from SU. Out of those 6 people, I only remember my conversations with half of them, and Sarah was not among the bunch! Funnily enough, the 3 people whose conversations I didn’t remember ended up being the most special for me as the years went on.
As time went on after that, I certainly learned quickly that Sarah was a special person, but whenever I learned anything from my sporadic conversations with Sarah or saw her Facebook posts, I never saw any big signs that we might be compatible for a relationship.
Sarah
For the next 5 years we casually chatted and saw each other sporadically at Bay Area events, Stanford reunions, and the occasional party. Until 2021 when we hung out in a non-group setting for the first time.