It was a summer afternoon at the public pool in Los Angeles when Daniel walked nervously up to Sasha. She was in an orange bikini casually reading a philosophy book about love.
Fumbling to make conversation, Daniel asked if she had learned anything.
“Basically, it’s in our nature to love,” she replied shortly before he summoned the cojones to ask for her number.
It’s In Our Nature to Love
Honeymoon on Mars
Sasha & Daniel were dating for 5 months when the pandemic arrived and opportunity knocked. In route to Joshua Tree, their AirBnb host informed them that her bookings had been cancelled by San Bernadino County, indefinitely.
Daniel, the lawyer that he is, sensed what some would call a “favorable negotiating position.”
And like that, the two Angelenos exchanged their 500 square foot apartments for a 5 acre house in the desert. Their Honeymoon on Mars began and their love blossomed like an ocotillo cactus in Spring.
It’s 6 AM and I Must Be Lonely
After a sleepless Christmas Eve night, Daniel woke Sasha up at 6 AM pretending they needed to check the surf at Playa Hermosa — an idyllic beach in the Costa Rican town of Santa Teresa.
On the sand and still half asleep, Sasha froze in shock when Daniel got on his knees and asked in Russian for her to marry him.
“You know, it’s a yes or no question,” Daniel interrupted after several crushing minutes of silence passed.
Sasha laughed, nodded yes, and the two celebrated in the playful Pacific waves, blissfully unaware of a war brewing across the world in her home country.
Beverly Hills 90210
Bags barely unpacked when the war in Ukraine started, suddenly the idea of marriage took on new urgency with Sasha now uncertain when she’d return to Russia and the spectre of Trump 2.0 not boding well for foreign visa holders like her.
By the end of March 2022, Sasha and Daniel were married at Beverly Hills City Hall in a 5-minute ceremony. “You may lower your mask and kiss the bride,” announced the judge to an empty room save for one attendee — Sasha’s loyal friend Danielle.
A boilerplate ceremony with vows not written by them wasn’t what either had dreamed of. The two accepted that everything in the world was topsy-turvy and waited, hoping the time would come to one day celebrate with the people they loved.