Jessica accepted a travel nursing contract in Arizona for four weeks, while Derrick had just moved to the area a few months prior for school. They had a mutual friend living there who asked them out to Taco Tuesday shortly after Jessica arrived. “As I introduced myself, Derrick kindly reminded me that we had actually met twice last year in California, on each of our birthdays. Thankfully, he didn’t take this personally and we continued to hang out during my short stay in Arizona.” As Jessica’s 4 weeks were coming to an end, Derrick mentioned a roadtrip he had been wanting to take to Aspen, to which she quickly encouraged and invited herself. “It was an adventure packed few weeks on the road, including my first speeding ticket, a cracked windshield, near car crash with a moose at 70mph, adventurous tent camping, white water rafting, paragliding and hiking. We knew we had found something worth exploring…life together!” Shortly after their trip they relocated to California to continue their adventures.

A last minute trip to Hawaii? Why not! Derrick’s family asked us if we wanted to join them in Kauai and a week later we were laying on the beautiful Kalapaki beach. Derrick wasn’t planning to propose for another 4 months when my parents would be visiting us in California. But with their blessing, he brought the ring to Hawaii. I planned a hike for us down to Wailua Falls, not realizing the difficulty we were about to encounter. Derrick insisted on carrying a backpack and wearing flip flops (in true Derrick fashion) as we saw previous hikers climbing up to the parking lot covered head to toe in mud. As we began repelling down the slippery cliff with the thin ropes tied by the locals, one patron advised Derrick to ditch his sandals and continue barefoot. I could see the fear in his eyes and asked if he wanted to go back up. But he insisted, backpack in hand, and eventually we were rewarded with a front row view of a massive waterfall. With only a handful of others around us, I asked Derrick to prop up my phone to take our picture. He walked back to me as we tried to balance in the forceful current, got down one knee and proposed. Reminiscing that night, we both panicked as we imagined the ring slipping out of his fingers and lost forever in the Falls.