Let’s do this!

Location: Our apartment—Anaheim, California

Raj: If you asked me when I wanted to marry to Tara, I would say, yesterday. As much as we wanted to plan a large traditional wedding, we just had too much going on in our lives. We both are working and are going to school full-time. It made sense to wait until I was done with my masters and when Tara made her way into nursing school, but that put us out at the end of 2020, and that seemed so far away.

I wasn’t going to push and I wanted Tara to go at her own pace. However, one night after a movie, a good friend stopped by for a nightcap. After a few drinks and a lot of deep conversation about what was important in life, he couldn’t get past why we were still waiting. He kept asking the same question over and over again, and we just didn’t seem to have a satisfying answer.

Apparently, he left an impression on Tara and the next day she came home from work with a new perspective. As John Lennon wrote, “Life is what happens to you while youre busy making other plans.” It was time to pull the trigger and start our new life together.

Thank you Adjit. (and yes – thanks to Ram, Stephen, Salil, Lokesh, Namal, Maral, and everyone else who pushed us in the same direction to finally make the call).

Tara: This moment still plays vividly in my mind. We had a buddy come over to have a nightcap after watching Avengers: End Game in the theaters. The night lead to a deep conversation of healthy relationships and how to make it work. Our friend kept asking us, “What’s the secret to a healthy, loving relationship?” and “How do you work through the hard times and still keep going strong?”

As these questions popped up, we would lovingly glance at each other with a hinted smirk, knowing that we’re not perfect and our relationship takes work. In so many ways, we constantly harped on doing our best to focus on staying respectful, prioritizing our love for one another, and supporting each other’s happiness.

When the evening died down and our buddy finally left, we look at each other and I’ll never forget the feeling stirring inside me with this question, “What are we waiting for?” He and I brought up the obstacles and what is important to us at the end of the day. I didn’t need a day to think about it. The next morning, I called him to pull the trigger and said, “There’s no need to wait. Let’s do it!” We chose a date, prioritized our criteria the next few months, and here we are with a Wedding Day: October 19th, 2019!