Natalie
Natalie called the San Francisco Bay Area home for the first 18 years of her life. She has her parents to thank for her love of reading and cooking, and the multicultural environment for a strong wanderlust that combined to produce two bachelor degrees in Spanish and International Relations and Global Affairs. No one anticipated, however, that those degrees would come from Hendrix College, a small liberal arts school in Arkansas.
Natalie continued her studies at Syracuse University, earning a Masters of Arts in International Relations in 2009. Natalie’s belief in the power of good governance led her to work at the local Census office in 2010 and later on to a career at a local air quality government agency.
Shai
Shai was born in Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv, and spent his first two years in Israel. Shai’s family then moved to the United States and settled in the greater Seattle region. Shai has Seattle to thank for his love of technology and outdoor adventures, in addition to his laid-back approach to life. From his parents comes his love of music, and more importantly, his dedication to family and friends.
After graduating from The International School in 2001, Shai attended Digipen Institute of Technology to combine his love of technology and games in a Bachelor’s of Science in Real-time Interactive Simulation. Shai worked for an innovative display technology firm in Redmond, Washington before becoming a game developer in San Francisco.
For those not familiar with Hebrew names, Shai is pronounced exactly like the English word “shy.” It is the Hebrew equivalent of the name “Josh” and means “gift.”
The First Date
About a month after Shai moved to San Francisco for a new job, the Jewish holiday of Purim arrived. Shai was still making new friends in the area and decided to visit a local Chabad synagogue. Natalie was a few months away from completing her conversion to Judaism at another synagogue in San Francisco. However, she had always heard about the amazing Purim parties hosted by Chabad and wanted to check one out.
After the Book of Esther was read in the sanctuary, they joined the party in the social hall. While she is almost certain she spoke to other people in the room that night, all Natalie can remember are Shai’s addicting smile and bright blue eyes.
The rest, as they say, is history, because while she drove home that night, Natalie knew that if she didn’t screw this up, she had met the man she was going to marry.
The Proposal
Shai has the distinction of a lot of firsts in their relationship: he said, “I love you” first, he initiated the discussion of moving in, and he also brought up the topic of eventually marrying. Clearly the man knows what he wants.
A few months after their initial discussions about marrying, Natalie one day found a ring she loved online. She had been discussing engagement rings with her friend and emailed her rabbi to make sure it was okay with Jewish law. She showed it to her sister… and about a week later mustered the courage to show it to Shai, hoping it would not come across arrogant or presumptuous to do so. Shai agreed to buy the ring, but told Natalie that she could not have it now. He hid it away until the right moment.
The day after her birthday was apparently right. Running around in sweats and an old t-shirt as she cleaned the house and baked cookies for a family function, Natalie called her mom to finalize plans for the following day. After hanging up, Natalie walked into the bedroom to let Shai know the plans.
Now, Natalie’s grandfather (and Shai’s grandmother!) had been teasing them lately about when they were going to get married. Shai started teasing Natalie at that moment, asking her what she was going to say to her grandpa tomorrow when he started up again.
“The same thing I always do: when I know, you’ll know,” she said.
After a hug, Shai said he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Natalie sat down on the foot of the bed while Shai went to retrieve the ring from its hiding spot.
As she is prone to do, Natalie ruined “the moment” by saying she should start some laundry. Really, she promises that what meant to come out was something more like, “Hold that thought, Shai, I need to start laundry so we’ll have clean clothes for tomorrow and we can enjoy the rest of the night!” Instead Shai gave her an incredulous look and said, “I think that can wait.”
Sitting on the edge of the bed, hugging forehead to forehead, Shai officially proposed. Natalie doesn’t really remember much other than saying yes with an, “I can’t wait to be your wife.”
Then they kind of sat and stared at each other for a while, grinning like fools. Natalie said that he should call his parents and grandma, but that she wanted to share the news in person with her family the next morning. The night was capped with a celebratory dinner.
And somehow, the clothes managed to get done and the cookies got baked.
Natalie and Shai 