The start of something
Our relationship began as many great loves began, at Walmart! Grace worked in the corporate development group, helping them identify startups to partner with or acquire. Nan invested in a startup that was looking to be acquired and found himself across from Grace at Walmart’s offices. He had an upset stomach that day and asked Grace for tea upon entering the room. It was not a good first impression. Walmart decided not to do business with Nan or his startup.
Over a year later, we bumped into each other and remembered that awkward first meeting. Nan invited Grace to a whiskey tasting that he was hosting. Grace declined but decided that Nan was an “interesting person” and wanted to get to know him.
Our first “date” was at a bar in San Francisco called Hard Water. Grace was 30 minutes late (not a good second impression) but we had a great time. From then on, one of us would suggest getting together every week. Nan was unclear if these were dates, so he never made a move on any of these hangouts. Grace just knew she loved hanging out with Nan and neither of them anticipated the budding friendship and romance to come.
Something about you
On date #6 (but who’s counting, oh wait, yes Nan was counting), we met up at 5PM on a weekday and were together past midnight - we call this the “8 hour date”. On the way to meet some friends, Nan decided that it was about time to go in for the kiss. He didn’t succeed, but set intentions for romance.
We went our separate ways for the winter holidays, but not before exchanging Christmas gifts. Nan made a mix CD that Grace was unable to play because no one owns a CD player. When Grace got to Taiwan for the holidays, she spent time on the drives there to listen to Nan’s mix in her car. A combination of carefully selected songs, the separation, and some holiday magic made her start thinking about Nan in a new light.
After we both got back to San Francisco, we became a couple in the new year and haven’t looked back since.
It’s our love
Over the 2017 holidays, we had a trip planned to go back to Japan. Japan is one of our favorite places in the world and also the first vacation that we took together as a couple. In the few months leading up to that, Nan decided to plan the proposal to pop the question in Tokyo.
First things first, he took Grace’s parents out to a dinner in Palo Alto and let them know of his plan. They actually didn’t give him too much of a hard time, and gave him blessings to move ahead. In between a toast at dinner, Grace’s dad said “But you are going to sell that motorcycle right?”. Nan is still working on finding a buyer for his motorcycle, but it will be gone by the wedding!
On the Tokyo trip, Nan had the ring in his backpack the entire time and couldn’t quite find the right place to propose for the first 5 days of the trip. In December, Tokyo is very crowded anywhere indoors and very cold anywhere outdoors - this was a problem that Nan didn’t expect. After convincing Grace to buy many more layers of clothing (thanks Uniqlo!), he suggested that we go for a walk before dinner one day. We walked along a river in the quiet neighborhood of Nakameguro, the site of the famous annual Cherry Blossom festival. In the winter, the cherry trees along the canal are wrapped in thousands of pink LEDs that go on for miles. Nan proposed under the canopy of a bright pink LED tree. And…
She Said Yes!
