Eric was born as “Jose Luis Avalos” in Asuncion, Paraguay on February 28, 1994. Within the first year of life, “Jose Luis” was “Eric” and was on a plane to meet Karen Johnson and family. On March 26 that same year, Alyssa was born in Mountain View and grew up in San Jose amongst a mixed Filipino extended family. Without knowing it, both Eric and Alyssa went to schools within an hour away from each other in neighboring cities–Hollister and San Jose for high school, and Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo for college. Then, as fate would have it at twenty-five years old, they were both about to meet their future spouse in San Francisco.

In August of 2019, Alyssa was living her dream as a graphic designer in a house in the Sunset District of San Francisco. But when Alyssa’s long commutes to Sunnyvale from SF no longer made sense, she decided she would move back home to San Jose and find a new tenant for the room on Craigslist. Eric was the first to email, apply, and interview. Within three days, both Alyssa and Eric had signed leases, with Alyssa moving to San Jose and Eric living in her old room. As time went on, Alyssa would visit her former house in San Francisco, always making time to have a sushi dinner with the housemates. After a handful of group hangs and casual texts were exchanged, Eric decided he would bravely ask Alyssa to hang out—but without the company of the other housemates. One late December night, under the lights of the Space Needle and the influence of friendship and adult beverages, Eric called Alyssa. "Can we hang out, just the two of us?". Alyssa was shocked because this was the first time they had ever talked on the phone, but she curiously obliged. One week later, they went on their first date: coffee, followed by a trip to the roller rink, and dinner at In-N-Out Burger.

Eric and Alyssa made their relationship official on January 11, 2020. This exciting milestone happened a few months before a global pandemic and the nationwide coronavirus lockdown in March of 2020. This meant Eric and Alyssa spent their early months co-working in Alyssa’s San Jose studio apartment and commuting to Eric’s San Francisco apartment. Starting their relationship amidst a global pandemic allowed the two to focus on building a strong foundation of trust, communication, and care, even when the world felt like it was falling apart. In February 2021, they made the practical decision to move into a house together in San Jose’s Northside neighborhood, where they still currently reside with their kitties Meeko and Frida. Throughout their five years of dating, Eric and Alyssa have built strong and diverse communities of supportive friends who have become their chosen families. They also found that Alyssa’s ambition, artistry, and joie de vivre, combined with Eric’s empathy, charisma, and curiosity of the natural world, balanced each other out. With just the right amount of similarities and differences, the two have been able to build a beautiful and abundant life together, full of music, food, nature, and art.

The story of the proposal begins 6000 miles from the wedding venue, in Asuncion, Paraguay, where Eric was born. Eric’s connection to the country has strengthened since first visiting in 2022 to explore its flora and fauna. On this trip, Eric would sow the seeds for another future excursion that would include Alyssa, a ring, and the world’s largest waterfall system: Iguazu Falls. Eric’s zoologist contact, Paul Smith, would be the co-conspirator on this proposal trip to Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. The plan was to visit the Atlantic forest–a critically endangered forest, home to toucans and jaguars–and to complete the trip at the spectacular Iguazu Falls National Park in Brazil. On the morning of July 4th 2025, Eric and Alyssa awoke at 5AM to cross the border from Paraguay into Brazil to meet their contact at the front gates of Iguazu National Park. Moments after arriving, Alyssa learned that a photographer, Nilmar, would be joining them and taking candid photos as they entered the park (before public hours!) and hiked alongside the massive 275 cascading waterfalls (“cataratas”) carving through jungles. After a morning of posing for photos by picturesque falls and forests, Eric and Nilmar hatched a plan. The best moment for “The Moment” would be our final destination on the hike: a scenic viewpoint at the base of an enormous waterfall that casts rainbows over the Atlantic forest backdrop. Eric first, then Alyssa, would each take ten individual photos, facing the beautiful falls and away from the photographer. As soon as Nilmar snapped the last shot and Alyssa turned around, Eric was kneeling. Nilmar captured every second of this moment. Eric recited the words they had written so long ago and brandished an aquamarine ring that had belonged to Florence Myers, Karen Johnson’s deceased mother and a gem of a human, born in the same month as Alyssa. Through the overwhelmed sobbing, Alyssa exclaimed “yes!”. A rainbow hovered behind their heads as they embraced as fresh fiancés.

We are excited to celebrate this next chapter of our lives together with our friends and family. The wedding ceremony and reception will take place at Jardines Restaurant in San Juan Bautista, a sleepy town east of Hollister that we’ve frequented many times for antiquing, nearby nature, and a break from the hustle and bustle of city life. We look forward to a day of love, good Mexican food, and lots of laughs and dancing!