Priya Raman
Ava's sister and lifelong co-conspirator. Will cry first, dance longest, and has the emergency sewing kit.
Our story
How two bad surfers found their footing.
01
A cold morning at the cove
We met in the lineup at a fog-grey cove south of town, both of us catching far more whitewater than waves. Ava had a borrowed longboard and no idea what she was doing. Mateo had owned a board for six years and somehow knew even less. We spent the morning apologizing for nearly running each other over, and then split a thermos of bad coffee on the rocks because neither of us wanted to leave first.
02
Teaching each other things
Three winters of dawn patrols later, we've taught each other a small, useful pile of things. Mateo taught Ava how to read a swell chart and how to make a fire in the wind. Ava taught Mateo how to actually pop up — and, eventually, how to slow down enough to notice the seals watching us flail. We never did get good at surfing. We got very, very good at being together near the water.
03
The proposal, at low tide
Last March, Mateo asked Ava to walk the beach at the lowest tide of the month — the kind that opens up a wide, mirrored stretch of sand and a tide pool you can only reach twice a year. He'd written the question in the wet sand below the high-water line, where it would be gone by evening. Ava said yes before the sentence was finished. Then we sat in the cold until the tide came back and quietly erased the whole thing.
A short history
- 2023 Two strangers collide in the whitewater at the cove.
- 2024 First road trip up the coast — they never stop driving north.
- 2025 A tiny rental near the headlands, one surfboard rack, two mugs.
- 2026 A question written in the sand at the lowest tide of March.
- 2027 A wedding on the bluff — and you, right there with us.