Charlie was once told that he needed to put himself out there; that "a girl is not going to just stumble into his garage."

Well, Dad, it turns out that's pretty much how it happened!

Estefanie moved to Santa Monica from the Bay Area for a little sunshine and beach life during the pandemic. Without any friends or family, she made the big move to Los Angeles.

Mutual friends of ours mentioned to Estefanie that she should reach out to Charlie. He likes to hike, just like she does. He enjoys the ocean, just like she does. He has friends, unlike she does. Though she was reluctant at first, she reached out to him hoping for a friend and maybe a backyard get together.

Estefanie lived alone in a studio (with her pup, Frida!). And while she is very independent, she is not necessarily handy. So when her rickety dinner table wouldn't stand up straight and her kitchen stools were leaning like miniature towers of Piza, she decided to ask for some help from Charlie. She brought the table and stools over to his garage and they glued and screwed everything together to reinforce it. But it wouldn't end there....soon she called him up about a wobbly lamp at her place. "Sure," Charlie said, "I'll bring some tools over and we'll fix it right up." 30 seconds and zero tools later, the lamp was upright and right as rain. "Was this just a ploy to get me to come over?" Charlie wondered... but Estefanie still claims innocence!

And just like that we had reconnected. At first, we went hiking, and then we would have fun beach days. After a while we found ourselves signing up for a movie theater subscription and regularly went to the movies. We'd meet in downtown Santa Monica before (and sometimes after) the movie for food and drinks. At one point Charlie jokingly challenged Estef to "see how much time they could spend with each other before they got sick of one another." Well, we know how that worked out ...

We would chat about many things, but most amusingly, our online dating experiences. We even matched on Hinge! Estefanie liked Charlie's dating profile so much that she stole some of his content. Charlie was, "Looking for someone to zip sleeping bags together with." Estefanie was looking for the same thing and decided to add it to her own dating profile, thinking "Thanks Charlie for the opener!"

Our first date was unintentional, or so Charlie claims. Charlie invited Estefanie to go scuba diving in Catalina Island with a group of people. One by one, the others reached out to say they couldn't make it...except for Estef, who is always ready to take on a new adventure. With only two people, Charlie talked to Estef about splitting a room for the weekend to save on cost. Estef obliged, as they'd crashed at each others' places in the past after fun nights out. But might Charlie have deliberately picked one of the cuter hotels on Catalina? Maybe... Might he have upgraded to a third story room with a balcony overlooking the village and ocean? Perhaps...

You see, Charlie had developed feelings for Estef by this point, and was sure that it was time to bring that to light. He just wasn't sure how to do that. And being the engineer that he is, it didn't come naturally to him.

Upon arriving to Catalina, the two headed right over to the dive park to get a few dives in before sundown. The water was cold, clear and beautiful. The kelp forest was abundant, rays of light were shining through the water and schools of fish swam all around us. It was Estef's first time scuba diving this spot, but it was one that Charlie had visited in the past and he'd never seen it so spectacular. Was this an opportunity to have a sentimental conversation? It's a bit hard to wax poetry with a regulator in your mouth, I suppose. No, not yet.

After scuba diving, we got dinner on the island and then went out for drinks. We laughed, played pool, watched people sing karaoke, met a man who called himself "Shrek"...and certainly earned it. Multiple couples asked if we were together ourselves. "No, just friends!" We kept saying. It was the truth, after all! Unless Charlie would say something to change that, of course. But no, no. Not yet.

And so, the two teetered past Christmas carolers on their way back to their pink hotel, up to the third-floor balcony to look at the lights in the city. What a romantic moment! Time to ask the question? It probably should have been. Instead, the two got ready for bed and Charlie, not wanting to make Estefanie feel uncomfortable in any way, left his street clothes on and slept on top of the bedding. Estefanie fell fast asleep, while Charlie would lie awake all night pondering the words to ask his adjacent friend to be something more.

Finally, the next day, 12/05/2021, Charlie shared his feelings for Estefanie. What Shakespearean prose did he discover that would swoon the girl of his dreams?

"Um...Estef...I have bad news."

"What?"

"I think I have a crush on you..."

(Go back to fifth grade, Charlie!)

Well evidently it worked. Estefanie of course felt the same way. They spent the rest of the day awkwardly holding hands and enjoying the town of Avalon as they waited for their ferry home. And then, right at the very last minute as the two waited in line for their ferry, they shared their first kiss.

Just in the nick of time? Yeah, that sound like Charlie.

Our story is a funny one filled with serendipity. This story is really two tales in one. Both sides of the story have permeated the folklore for Charlie and Estef among their friends and it wasn't until much later that they would connect the dots.

One day while living in Santa Monica, Estefanie was enjoying beers with friends and started to tell a story from years ago in the Tesla days, where Estefanie and Charlie were first acquainted. She was new to a station called Water Test, in which vehicles pass through a simulated monsoon machine to test for potential water leaks in the car. For those nerdy engineers out there reading this, the machine dumped 50,000 gallons of water per minute on each car that came through.

During her first week, the liftgate of a $90,000 Model S opens in the middle of the water test, completely flooding the vehicle. She blamed herself thinking she must have hit a button by mistake causing the liftgate to open! Needless to say, she was shaking in her steel toed boots. Her manager was ex-military and not exactly friendly when he told her she was going to work an additional 24 hours that Saturday and Sunday to follow the car.

As Estefanie tells this story, she notices a smile begin to creep on Charlie's face. "Why would he be smiling at this story?" Estefanie wondered. Well, it turns out that Charlie had a fable of his own to share.

Back when Charlie was a quality engineer at Tesla, he would investigate problems by tracking down an affected vehicle and seeing it first hand. At this point, Telsa was only building Model S', so you can imagine that finding a vehicle with a bad door handle is a bit like finding a needle in a stack of needles.

Luckily, there was a phone application that allowed users to type in a specific VIN number and remotely interact with that vehicle. You could sound the alarm, flash the headlamps, and yes you could open the liftgate remotely...

As Charlie looked for his troubled car, he searched the vast factory - first flashing the headlamps, then honking the horn. Perhaps these were unsuccessful due to the car being tucked inside of a monsoon bath, but that didn't cross his mind at the time. He decided to open the liftgate hoping he could spot the car he needed. When he couldn't find the vehicle he needed he gave up. He thought "Oh well, I guess I'll go to lunch and find a different car with this problem!". He notices that there is some commotion at Water Test but thinks nothing of it. There's plenty of commotion in auto factories, after all.

It's not until he returns from lunch that he realizes what had happened. His manager, who was a very kind but stern Tennessee man, came by his desk and knelt down to gently break the news about what happened at Water Test. The app had identified Charlie as the activator of the liftgate. Fearing immediate termination from the notoriously cut-throat Tesla Motors, Charlie apologized profusely. He survived the escapade, but would ultimately be the source of some new rules and permissions restrictions related to the mobile app. Estefanie would be none the wiser until they were having beers together in Santa Monica 7 years later.