A coffee that ran long

How we met

We matched on a dating app a little over three years ago and agreed to meet for coffee. The coffee was fine. The conversation was the point: we sat there for hours and neither of us wanted to be the first to leave.

Days later, Zeinab flew to Lebanon to visit family. Chris still likes to say the first date went so badly that she left the country. What actually happened was a lot of texting across an eight-hour time difference, and by the time she came home there were already more dates on the calendar. Trips followed, and we grew close quickly.

Miami

Chris carried the ring in his pocket for the entire trip. He had done his research: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, a morning visit before lunch, and one particular spot he had picked out online ahead of time. The night before, Zeinab tried to swap the garden for somewhere else. He talked her out of it. As it turned out, that did not matter.

We wandered the grounds while he worked up his courage. We reached the spot, and he was so nervous that we walked straight past it. It took a full loop of the garden to circle back, sit down, and wait for the crowd to thin out.

As the other visitors drifted away and he was still working up his courage, Zeinab announced that she was hungry and it was time to go. He asked for five or ten more minutes. She was not interested in five or ten more minutes. She was a hungry woman and so we left.

That evening, on the couch of our rental with the TV on, it landed: there was no reason to wait for a new perfect moment. Every ordinary day together already was one. So he asked, right there. She said yes.

Next

Now we are bringing the people we love most to a small city on a small island, for a short ceremony and a long dinner. We cannot wait.