The only way we can tell our story is to start from the very start. We gracefully met at a bar on the dance floor in Santa Monica ("The Room"...great bar!). Though, we each take credit of who spotted who 1st, I remember the initial connection, and eagerly awaited the next time we would talk. Joy, working as a traveling nurse (originally from Denver), didn't have all the resources a young professional might have if they were local. Being an intelligent woman, Joy proactively asked me to give her a hand with a recent mattress purchase and haul it crosstown. Joy still laughs, "Who helps a person move that you just met!". From then we continued to talk, laugh, date, and have fun together...venturing state to state with spontaneous road trips (with me always driving). We fell in love, continued to experience many meaningful years together, and we finally got engaged.

It was a Thursday afternoon, when we decided to go for a bike ride down at the beach. Something we have done together 100 times, so Joy didn't think much of it. Thankfully, Joy wasn't curious with what I wedged under my bike seat as we road up the coast. On the way up, I kept thinking should I stop and do it here...maybe over there...basically, I didn't have a plan! But we made it to the end of the path and began to rest. Still, not knowing where I was going to ask Joy to marry me, I did know that I wanted someone to take pictures of us in the moment. Great plan, but we had a slight problem, no one was to be found. Waiting patiently, with a heart beat that was close to max, someone finally reached where we were sitting. Not knowing if any more people were going to come up, I had to act fast. I asked the bystander to take a picture of us with the beach in the background. Both, he and Joy had no idea what was about to come. As I began to work my way to a knee and pull out a small box, the bystander vocally expressed his excitement and started take multiple pictures. Joy was more in shock, and was wondering why I was getting onto a knee. Thankfully, Joy quickly realized what was happening. With a surprised and loving spirit, Joy said yes, and couldn't stop laughing and screaming.