soon to be the Sullas

I have two fond memories of how we first met. The first memory I have of Aubrey was around 2012, when she was struggling to play "Just the Way You Are" on the piano. Fast forward to December 2013, after figuring out her name is pronounced Audrey, I asked her and a few others to lead a poetry slam for a church activity. It was this day that we took our first picture together, not knowing that we'd be together forever.

The year is now 2016, and I noticed on IG that Audrey is leaving for college at UC Davis. Every week, she would dedicate a post to people who have been influential in her life. It is also around this time where I was assigned as Audrey's area group leader at church. In other words, I am responsible for keeping her informed about any reminders or announcements coming from the church. I could have just sent her a text and called it a day, but something urged me to give her a call. I hopped in my car for a quiet place, quickly wrote down what I was going to say, and gave her a call. It was at this point where our relationship started to blossom. I told her about a tennis tournament at church. She said she was out of practice, and, knowing damn well I don't know how to play tennis, I offered to help her practice! She agreed and we went on our first unofficial date... With her brother and Mikey Quillopo. After this, we started talking every day and went on our first official date. We did a 2-hour hike at Uvas Canyon and had lunch at Kenzo Sushi. She leaves for Davis in a few weeks, so the window for consistently seeing her was about to close. There were 3 things that changed us from "just talking" to "in a relationship." 1. I make Audrey my phone background 2. Audrey dedicated a post to me on IG 3. Pancakes? - Sept 14, 2016, before I had class, I invited Audrey for breakfast. I made her mini pancakes and we had a quick meal before starting our day. During breakfast, I decided to hold her hand while we ate. Unknowing of what's going on, Audrey has a confused but happy look on her face. I break the tension by saying this, "I like you just the way you are. Can we be together?" 10 years later, you are invited to our wedding set for April 27, 2026!

I've known Jason since my teenager years since we're from the same church. I had the fattest crush on him (ask Emerald and Theresa), but never acted upon it. It wasn't until there was a tennis activity within the church that allowed us the opportunity to hang out casually. I played tennis in high school, and Jason was trying to look for players for this activity. After that first initial hang out, we were texting daily. Around this time I was less than a month away from moving to Davis, CA for college so I, again, did not act upon it since I didn't know if either of us were willing to do long distance. Let's just say that distance was not a hindrance for the love that we have, because here we are!

I don't think there was ever an "aha!" moment for me like there is in the movies. Our relationship has always been built upon consistently showing up for each other in spite of long-distance. When I was younger there was a minister, Ka Matthew Capistrano, who gave the advice to be with someone who would bring me closer to God, and Jason has always been that person for me.

Years before the big question, I asked Audrey if she knew of any proposals that she liked. Specifically, she told me about an intimate proposal in Sacramento, where they had their devotional prayer at the chapel, right after, he took a knee and proposed. Moments later, the family came to congratulate the newlyweds. In early April, I asked the parents. Mid-May, I got the ring. In early June, we started our devotional prayer. Stage is set, time to implement. Just like every plan I make, there were so many changes, but the main criteria still remained. As a disguise, I chose to do it on a church day and the day of my sister's birthday, so it gave us a reason to go out as a family. At the same time, I created a shared Google Doc, with many edits, detailing the timeline so all other family/close friends know where to be and when to be there. After dinner, I said, "I forgot my laptop at the chapel, can we go back?" We return to an empty chapel, excluding the ones guarding, and I go look for my laptop. I also suggest, "Since we are here, let's have our devotional prayer." We head to the chapel where we would pray. The prayer mainly consists of me thanking God that He guided and kept us together this long. After the prayer, I told Audrey that I had something else I wanted to share with her. We walk outside while giving a whole speech (LMK if you want to see the video), and I take a knee right in front of the chapel. Being so full from dinner, she was more conscious of not throwing up than crying, so she says YES and gave me a big hug. During our prayer and speech, everyone else entered the church parking lot. We also set something up where my family/close friends could see and hear my speech in another room. After the big hug, we went to the other room where the family was waiting to congratulate us. That's IT! Now we here.

The day of the proposal was actually Jason's sister's birthday. It was a really good excuse to have the family go out to all you can eat hot pot. However, that's the thing it was all you can eat hot pot. We (I) overordered with the food, so at the end of the meal there was quite a bit of leftovers...so I took one for the team and ate them to avoid the waste fee. After dinner, Jason made an excuse saying that he left his laptop at the chapel and asked me to come with him to go get it. Since we were at the chapel, we used it as an opportunity to hold our personal devotional prayer. After the prayer, he lead me out of sanctuary and that's where I see Ceddie (best man) holding an iPhone recording us. That's when I said "oh shit it's happening" in my head. I was so full and excited with that was happening I felt like throwing up - literally. The majority of the proposal I kept telling myself "don't throw up, don't throw up." I think even in the recording you can hear me say "why did you let me eat so much before this?" I'm just glad I did not vomit and that I'm engaged to my best friend.