We're Getting Married!

Elaina's version: We met in 2016 at Lifeguard Headquarters on the Santa Cruz wharf. Our friend Nick Conforti brought us together to study for an exam but we seemed to have found something more! A spark was lit that would last for another 2 years before we found each other again. Mike's version: Welp. I went to lifeguard headquarters to help out my good buddy Nick with his EMT exam and he had a friend and fellow classmate there with him. As we were studying I couldn't help but notice her positive energy, her quick wit and her goofy sense of humor. Her laugh was captivating and it filled me up with such joy that I felt like I had discovered something I didn't know I needed. For me, just being in her presence was like taking a double overhead wave straight to the face. Refreshing. I felt a weight lifted from me when I was around her and from then on I was hooked. I remember talking to myself alone in my car like a weirdo as I was driving down the dock and back to the garage I was currently living in. I had to wait two more years for our paths to cross again but I'll remember the day we met as long as I live.

On a chilly late autumn evening, Mike took me out to the cliffs above Steamer Lane for a last sunset before the next wave of storms during the 2022 season. It seemed like the sun had come out just for us and to bear witness to his question. Mike reminded me that this location was the same location where we had our first date. Here we jumped off the cliffs to the ocean below, unknowingly foreshadowing our jumping into life together. I gladly accepted knowing that there is no one I would rather weather a storm or take a leap of faith with than Mike!