Jeff and Michelle first met in 1987, at Clairemont High School. Jeff had just moved to Clairemont with his dad and only knew 2 people at the school. They became friends and Jeff remembers thinking how beautiful Michelle was but thought “she was way out of my league”. Michelle remembers thinking Jeff was cute and made her laugh a lot. They started dating and quickly became inseparable. They thought they would get married, and they even set a date for June 2, 1992! Well, life had other things in store and they ended up going their separate ways for many years. Michelle always said Jeff was her first love and he would always hold a special place in her heart and Jeff said his love for her never left him. Over the years, they kept in touch periodically to see how the other one was doing. Fast forward 30 years to December 2018… It had been 30 years since they finished high school and for the first time, Jeff and Michelle were both single. They reconnected and chatted a bit through text, then Michelle called Jeff on the phone. Jeff says he knew her voice immediately, and was so excited to hear the “voice he had missed for all those years”. He asked her to go on a date with him, but she said “No, that ship has sailed!” However, she did suggest they meet up so they could catch up. Michelle was opening a new business and could use some help, so she asked if Jeff would want to help with some jobs like building cabinets, desks, etc. Jeff saw this as his “in” and quickly agreed to meet up and bring his drill! They had fun working together and ended up spending many hours talking. They were surprised at how easy it was to be together. They both have said it felt like no time had passed at all, things just felt “normal” and “right” like they were never apart. They ended up going to see the movie Bohemian Rhapsody (3 times) and pretty soon they were officially dating! They attended their 30 year class reunion together, where people were shocked to see them back together after so many years. Michelle still had the dress she wore to prom with Jeff, so they recreated their prom picture and it is still one of their favorite pictures they have together. The Proposal: Jeff says he knew for a long time that he was going to propose, he just needed to figure out the perfect time and make sure Michelle would say yes, as they had both had said they never planned to get married again! Once he was feeling pretty confident, he got Hillari to help him pick out a ring (being Michelle’s best friend, this was NOT an easy secret to keep). They were planning a vacation in Cancun with Hillari and Craig and Jeff decided this would be the perfect time for a proposal! He planned to pop the question on the first day, on the beach during sunset. However, Jeff was too anxious and decided he couldn’t wait, so he decided to do it on the first morning, while the four of them were exploring the resort and beach. He was trying to signal to Hillari, to let her know of his sudden change of plans so she could be ready. This didn’t go over so well, as this was not the plan and she wasn’t prepared for this! Just as he was getting ready to start, a large iguana came out and Hillari was “out of there”. Craig was doing his best to keep normalcy in the chaos. Once the iguana was scared away, Jeff was able to resume his task. Michelle was completely oblivious to what was in the works, but she did notice that everyone was acting weird! Once Jeff was finally able to walk with Michelle out onto the rocks at the beach, he got very nervous and forgot everything he was planning to say. He proceeded to get down on his knee and stumble his way through asking Michelle to marry him. She was shocked as this was the last thing she thought would be happening that morning. It took a few minutes to grasp what was actually happening (although Jeff swears it took forever), but she was excited to say YES she would marry Jeff and become his wife!