Sam and Rebecca moved to New York at different times to work with the same experimental theater company: Mabou Mines in the East Village. They discovered they were the only young artists in the room familiar with the work of the late director Lee Breuer, a founding member of the Mabou Mines and their reason for being there. Sam took Rebecca to his favorite nearby noodle shop (Xi'an's Famous Noodles) and they had lunch in Tompkins Square Park. It was an auspicious day in March 2019; they sat on a bench underneath a blooming tree, the sun was shining, and the bees were all waking up. They spent an hour discussing art and sharing their artistic journeys up to the point of meeting. It turned out they lived one subway stop away from each other in Brooklyn, so they took the train home together from rehearsal almost every evening.

They fell in love making art and still collaborate together to this day. After some time, Sam and Rebecca discovered they had met even earlier: Rebecca had attended a workshop at Mabou Mines and Sam was in fact a puppeteer in that production. Sam remembers Rebecca as the woman asking the most interesting questions at the talkback. Him coming from San Francisco, her coming from Portland, to meet in the same theater time after time -- their love often feels fated in a beautiful way.

Sam and Rebecca’s wedding celebrates the forests they both grew up in. Sam running through Redwoods in the North Bay and Rebecca dancing underneath Douglas Firs in the Willamette Valley. While they found each other in one of the most exciting cities in the world, they plan to return to a home in the forests of the West Coast before long and found a theater company. They are so excited to have found a love that combines their artistic passion and craving for adventure, and look forward to a life in nature.