{"id":6001,"date":"2025-01-23T12:53:13","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T12:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/25may25.com\/wedding\/?page_id=6001"},"modified":"2025-01-28T02:47:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-28T02:47:16","slug":"our-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/25may25.com\/wedding\/our-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Our Love Story<\/div>
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MEETING KIRA\n<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Kira is the person I didn\u2019t know I needed, and we met perfectly at a time that was just right.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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At the start of 2021, I was getting back into full-time employment after taking 2.5 years off for grad school. It was exciting to start my dream job (Performance Improvement in a transit agency) working from home in an apartment near my favorite place in Atlanta (Piedmont Park), but almost all my friends from grad school had left Atlanta after graduation and I was coming out from a toxic relationship that taught me a lot about red flags and appreciating people who truly matter. In this context, I was looking forward to making new friends and starting my new life.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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When Kira matched with me on Facebook Dating, I paused to consider if I wanted to go out with someone spotting a pearl necklace on her profile photo. \u201cMaybe too snotty\u201d, I thought. But there was so much more in her profile that I loved \u2013 Exploring great food, parks and the arts, often listening to NPR, exploring the world, striving for goals, and works in HR (I truly do have a special place in my heart for HR professionals). Later, I learned that the pearl necklace was a tribute to Kamala Harris\u2019 inauguration as Vice President. Kira is a perfect match! She\u2019s even more perfect than I could have imagined at that time.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The first time we met, I took the MARTA train to Sandy Springs, and Kira drove us to Duluth for an outdoor concert. Kira was always accepting of my eccentricities like refusing to own a car. I fell for Kira very quickly; I think I was in love even before we got to Duluth. Words are not enough to describe how Kira makes me feel. The best I can describe it is that Kira is the most beautiful person I know. In our first months together, I was often stunned and amazed by how much she does for others, her commitment to her people (I\u2019m super lucky to be her #1 Person now), and how well she understands me. She understands the words I say, figures out the words I haven\u2019t said, and already knows the words that I didn\u2019t know to say.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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At home, we discuss analyses of data and organizations. We serve as a coach to each other, help each other push outside our comfort zones, and learn to balance honesty and care. Time stands still while we spend hours in the evenings and weekend mornings talking about anything and everything from day-to-day life and current affairs to big picture philosophies and our deepest joys and fears. This is all possible because we connect intellectually, in our hearts and values, in the deepest parts of our souls that had hitherto been beyond reach, and our spirits leaped and delighted in each other. Meeting Kira is now knowing what it means to have met my Better Half, and to be made whole by her.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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MEETING SOOHUEY<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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2020 - that infamous year in all of our lives - brought significant change to mine. I left the NYC\/Westchester area after exactly 20 years living there. I left PepsiCo after 6 years of employment. I left a 13 year relationship. I left the comfort of having many friends and family close by. It was hard - many of you reading this were on the other end of a phone call, email, or text (we weren\u2019t allowed to get together - it was Covid after all) - and I shed a lot of tears thinking of everything I was giving up while holding on to the belief that something new and different would be exactly what I was looking for.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Soohuey and I connected in early June 2021 with some online messages and texts as both of us were interested in expanding our friend circles and getting to know more people with common interests in Atlanta. There was something about Soo on the day we first met (July 17, 2021) that piqued my interest. We talked non-stop for hours that evening (even through the concert) and learned we had so much in common. Two weeks later (and lots of text messages in between) we met again, this time for Japanese and got kicked out of the restaurant since we\u2019d been there for hours and they were closing. There hasn\u2019t been a day since where Soo isn\u2019t the center of my universe.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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I listened to love songs, I read fairytale stories, I heard others say they found love at first sight and \u201cjust knew\u201d. Then I met Soo and it all made sense. I just knew. I knew that Soo was the perfect match for me. We complement each other and truly bring out the best in one another. Soo has cheered me on to step out of my comfort zone and have the confidence to dive into new and novel experiences. And at the same time, Soo is the person who grounds me and is my safe space.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The universe knew what the right time was for each of us to meet one another. Each and everyday, I take a moment to give thanks for the love we share, the joy we bring to each other, the adventures we embark on, and the life we are building together.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Our Life Together<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The last (nearly) four years have flown by! We celebrate July 17, 2021 as the date when we first met. It didn\u2019t take long before we shared an address; Soo sacrificed her love of Midtown life and proximity to Piedmont Park for a more suburban lifestyle in Sandy Springs. <\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Within weeks of meeting, we took our first trip to Minneapolis to visit our friend Shelley and attend the Minnesota State Fair. We can\u2019t even count the number of trips we\u2019ve taken since then but we did learn that whenever we fly, Kira seeks to be the first to board the plane and secure overhead bin space for her large carryon and Soo tries to be the last one on the plane with her small backpack that fits under the seat in front of her.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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We both have demanding careers but at the end of a long day, we always find time to talk and laugh as we wind down at night. We have a lot of commonalities in our work and we both play that coach\/advisor role to one another as we navigate the challenges of work and managing others.<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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We didn\u2019t follow the typical mold in getting to our wedding weekend. We designed our rings before we had proposal plans. We booked our wedding venue before we got engaged. We both knew the date for our engagement (June 21, 2023) and tied the celebration to our Malaysia trip for Soo\u2019s brother\u2019s wedding. We got legally married on September 1, 2023 in our living room with our closest family members watching on Zoom. And now we look forward to celebrating with our beloved family and friends on Memorial Day weekend 2025. We cannot wait to share in the festivities with each of you!<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Our Love Story* MEETING KIRA Kira is the person I didn\u2019t know I needed, and we met perfectly at a time that was just right. At the start of 2021, I was getting back into full-time employment after taking 2.5 years off for grad school. It was exciting to start my dream job (Performance Improvement […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6001","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/25may25.com\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/25may25.com\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/25may25.com\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/25may25.com\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/25may25.com\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6001"}],"version-history":[{"count":36,"href":"https:\/\/25may25.com\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6054,"href":"https:\/\/25may25.com\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6001\/revisions\/6054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/25may25.com\/wedding\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}