We had seen each other in passing by working in the same plaza. Alvaro had stopped at the bank a few times where I worked as a teller, but the line of customers didn't allow much time for conversation. One time, he had even seen me waiting alone outside for a coworker during closing procedures and made sure I was doing okay and offered a ride. On one fateful night in May of 2014, Alvaro and I found ourselves at a birthday gathering for a friend of a friend at Churchills Pub in San Marcos. We recognized each other immediately and chatted the night away. We danced, we drank, we played bar games and had so much fun that others thought we were already a couple. We had our first date a few days later at Stone Brewery, followed by Pizza Port and the beach the next day, and a very embarrassing attempt at cooking for Alvaro at my place that weekend. By June, we knew we had something special and have been inseparable ever since! Over the last 8 and a half years, our love has only grown stronger. I love our life we live together, full of traveling, cats, delicious food, and learning new hobbies together. Alvaro has been my rock through grad school and it never ceases to amaze me how much positive energy he brings everywhere he goes and his ability to find beauty in everything. I only wish I met him sooner.

I had the idea of proposing someday at the Griffith Observatory or the Getty Museum where we spent one of Bev’s birthdays but plans changed with the decision to move up north to Washington. Then all proposal plans were placed on hold with the pandemic and Bev in grad school. Meanwhile, I knew the kind of ring she would want but I wanted to make sure to keep my Amor’s Virgo energy in mind and decided to book a trip to La Jolla to look at engagement rings. After that trip and many others, the one ring was chosen and secured. The ring was from that day forward known as “peachy peach” for the peach-like color of the sapphire that Bev had chosen and became an ongoing joke. But now where to propose was the question? I began my master plan to convince Bev and Eli to be as excited as I was about the possibility of traveling to Spain. I thought this would be the perfect place to propose, but was worried about traveling with an engagement ring across the country and through multiple airports to reach our destination and risk Bev finding the ring before the surprise. We had decided we would be visiting Madrid, Sevilla, and Barcelona. I had devised multiple options for each city, but when we arrived to Sevilla, I immediately knew this is where I wanted to propose. I chose Plaza de España surrounded by its gorgeous canals and beautiful architecture as the perfect backdrop. We fell in love with the scenery and the smell of the orange trees that lined the streets made it the perfect setting. The weather however did not prove to be on my side. After several days of rain and clouds, our last day was sunny and the weather was perfect, not too cold or too hot, all you needed was a light sweater. We decided to walk over to Maria Luisa Park and found a pond surrounded by wisteria and orange trees. In the park, we sat down with tasty breakfast, watched the two swans swimming, and had a slow relaxing morning. Afterwards, we walked to the Plaza de España which was lively and full of flamenco performances and bubbles blowing throughout the air. We made our way to one of the balconies for more privacy and I tried to suggest we face outwards towards the crowd for Eli to take a picture as I fumbled with getting the ring out and getting on one knee before Bev had a chance to turn around. I began to ask her to marry me and must have said something extremely sweet that she did not let me finish before she said “get the *beep* up”, and I did, and asked “is that a yes?” and she said of course silly. We were officially engaged and celebrated with wine and some delicious food at what had become our favorite restaurant in Sevilla.