08.02.25

We met at Moonshine Beach, a country line-dancing bar in Pacific Beach. Both of us had recently taken up line dancing as a hobby, spending most Tuesday nights there. At one point, the DJ played a couple's dance song, and Alex asked Amanda to dance. While Alex didn’t sweep Amanda off her feet right away, a friendship blossomed that eventually evolved into dating, engagement, and marriage.

On an autumn Sunday afternoon, we decided to take a leap from "just friends" to our first date. We went out for sushi, sharing many smiles and laughs. After dinner, we planned to get dessert nearby, but discovered we were both too full. Instead, we settled on splitting a cookie. Not ready for the evening to end, we took a walk through Balboa Park. On a quiet bench, we shared our testimonies and future life goals.

We had dinner at Peohe's in Coronado, overlooking San Diego Bay and the downtown skyline. After dinner, we walked to the dock to take a picture together. Alex turned around, got down on one knee, and asked Amanda to marry him. After she said yes, she was surprised to see our families arriving on a sailboat to congratulate us. We promptly sailed the bay together in celebration.