Photos courtesy of Anam Ali Hashambhai.
Anam and Aamir Hashambhai broke up once in their 15-year relationship — when they were teenagers. The breakup lasted two weeks, and after deciding they were made for each other, they got back together.
“I knew he was the one because he just brought a different light and life to me,” Anam says.
Anam and Aamir first met in the parking lot of a now-closed Cici’s through a mutual friend. She was 15 and he was 16. They saw each other every Friday night at the mosque and played football on Sundays.
The first official date was at an ice cream shop on a Saturday afternoon.
After graduating, Anam went to Southern Methodist University and Aamir started working at his family’s dry-cleaning business. One of their shops is located close to SMU, so they would drive together in the morning. Anam would hang out with him in the mornings and then head to campus before going to work at Park Place Dealership. She’d pick Amir up at the end of day and drive home.
“It was kind of our weird way of dating in a very busy life,” Anam says.
For their 11th anniversary, Aamir convinced Anam to go to Cancun for Thanksgiving instead of going to Chicago to see family in 2017. He proposed.
“I think I knew I wanted to marry Aamir when I was probably 18 years old,” she says. “We both had similar visions for what we wanted out of life. And it’s weird because we are complete opposites.”
They still go to the same mosque on Friday nights, and Sunday is for football and walks around White Rock Lake. Along with working at the dry cleaners and at the dealership (she’s marketing director now), they flip houses together on the side.
“It’s just been fun growing up together. We were there during those awkward years,” she says. “We’ve actually really been each other’s best friends.”
