Fast forward a couple of years, I had recently become single and Odai decided to make his move! Odai oh so casually invited me over to his place for our first date, where he would make me a traditional Yemeni dinner that we had on his balcony. We hit it off and had an absolute blast that summer. We both love outdoor adventures and traveling, and began to realize how similar our values and beliefs were despite growing up on opposite sides of the world. Odai is also probably one of the most extraverted, energy-filled people you’ll ever meet who used to attend 5 social events back-to-back without fail. I, on the other hand, have become quite the homebody who needs a full day’s recovery after one social event. Being with Odai has pushed me to do fun things, meet new people, and not take life so seriously. It’s a really nice balance and I love him for his wild, exuberant self!

Since we are both consultants accustomed to traveling for clients all the time (pre-COVID era), we began utilizing these opportunities to make plans – we had a promise that we’d pick each other up from the airport no matter how late our flight arrived, and started meeting each other on work trips. The very first trip we had ever done was to Montreal. We were walking down old Montreal in the heat of the sun trying to decide what to do when we passed a Tattoo parlor… 30 minutes later we walked out with matching tattoos on our left shoulders (I guess we both knew, or at least hoped, this would be going somewhere!). The design was from Odai’s fashion clothing line that he and his business partner didn’t end up using – its abstract mountains to symbolize our homes and we each have the number of peaks as we do siblings. It may have been spontaneous but we have no regrets!

Odai and I both LOVE to travel. Before the pandemic hit, we fit in as many trips as possible.. Mexico, Spain, Netherlands, France, Portugal and were about to head to Italy, Turkey and San Diego. Because the world had other plans, we decided to make the most of it and took our Goldendoodle puppy Milo in a camper van and traveled more than 4000km from YYC to Vancouver Island.

It wasn’t until after the proposal that I learned poor Odai had planned over 7 different proposals over the span of about 4 months… He had also met with my parents, had made plans with friends, my brother-in-law, and even hired a photographer to capture the moment in San Diego (he had originally planned to propose on the beach at Sunset Cliffs in San Diego in April but then COVID happened). Regardless, the day was perfect. We were about halfway into our trip and had finished our stay in Victoria and were headed to Sooke, B.C later that afternoon. We checked out the Buchart Gardens in the morning, had brunch on the patio with Milo, and then made our way to Sooke where we checked in to the cutest Airbnb. We picked up a woodfire pizza on the road and set up a picnic at Sandcut Beach – we had the whole spot to ourselves it was amazing. Odai proposed at sunset with Milo by his side. It truly was the perfect day.

2 years later we are hoping we can celebrate with all our family and friends as we tie the knot! We were able to book the new Bearspaw Golf Club for our modern rustic wedding in August of 2022 and cannot wait to celebrate with all our loved ones (with hopes that both sides of the family are able to attend). A lot of Odai’s family is still back home so we are hoping to meet them while we are on our honeymoon to celebrate if they can’t attend in person.

Despite all the crazy things life has thrown our world lately, we are seriously so grateful to have each other through it all – there’s no one else I’d rather quarantine with and soon marry!