Jeff and I met at the perfect time in our lives. We both were starting graduate school and he happened to be in my best friend’s program. I decided to visit my best friend during her orientation week and had the opportunity to attend a lot of the icebreaker events her school offered. Fortunately, Jeff attended some of those events. We met at the Oregon Zoo and Jeff said he was instantly attracted to me. We hit it off even more when we met again for another event at the Rose City Roller Derby. There was an instant connection between us that was a rare finding for both of us. A few months later, Jeff had asked my best friend about me to see how I was doing. She encouraged him to message me and we started messaging each other every day. The holidays came around and I asked him if he’d be interested in coming down to SoCal to get to know each other more and he was totally up for it! When we saw each other, we felt that instant connection once more and started dating shortly after. We made long distance work for about a year and then we moved in together. Our love and respect for each other has continued to grow over the years and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with this wonderful man.

Jeff and I have had many amazing trips throughout the Pacific Northwest together. One of our favorite trips was when we went to a beach called Samual H. Boardman. On our way back from visiting family in California, we decided to camp near Samuel H. Boardman. Jeff had this whole plan of proposing while catching the sunset when we arrived. However, a landslide on the 101 prevented us from getting to our destination on time. So instead, he asked if we could catch the sunrise the next morning. While still half asleep and in our jammies, we walked down to the beach and were the only people on the beach at that time. While walking on the beach, Jeff reminisced about our love story and suddenly stopped and told me he had a question for me. I looked down at his hands and there was a beautiful ring shining up at me. He asked me to marry him. I was all smiles for the rest of the day and couldn’t wait to tell all my people.