Stephen and Wendy started pediatric residency together at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, not knowing that would lead to a friendship and romance that will last a lifetime.
One fateful night in 2019, Stephen, Wendy, and friends decided to get a trendy Thai dinner at Night+Market Song. The friends, seeing the 45-minute wait, promptly bailed, leaving Stephen and Wendy alone to enjoy an amazing meal together. The conversation flowed, and Stephen didn't want the night to end. He invited Wendy over to watch the cinematic masterpiece Incredibles 2 and pulled the ol' put-the-arm-around-the-girl-while-watching-a-movie-in-a-dark-room move. Wendy secretly loved it, but being very practical, declined to date her co-resident. Stephen proceeded to text Wendy every day, being a complete gentleman of course, and after weeks of sharing details about their intentions, hopes, values, dumb jokes, music tastes, and nights on call, they decided to make it official.
After graduation, in the midst of the pandemic, Wendy moved across the country to pursue a nephrology fellowship at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, while Stephen remained in Los Angeles to work as a hospitalist. They broke up, but again, completely failed to resist one another. They talked every day. They braved the unknowns of COVID to fly across the country to visit each other. By some divine intervention, Stephen matched at Columbia for his cardiology fellowship. With Wendy in Philadelphia and Stephen now in New York, it was only a matter of time before they rebuilt their relationship, stronger than ever before.
On April 1, 2023, Stephen proposed under the cherry blossoms of Kelly Drive in Philadelphia, during Wendy's favorite time of year and place in the city where they discovered they couldn't live without each other. They can't wait to share the beginning of the next chapter with all of you!