It was 2004; Gabrielle’s junior year and John’s sophomore year at James Logan High School in Union City,CA. We met one day after basketball practice through a mutual friend, Roosevelt (aka Rose) in the Pavilion. At the time, Gabrielle was walking out of the girl’s locker room with her teammate and was talking mess as usual to Roosevelt about him being weak at basketball lol. If you know Gabrielle, then you know she’s very blunt, sarcastic and always has jokes. From that moment John saw Gabrielle smile and experienced her witty personality; he was hooked! At first glance, Gabrielle thought John had a nice smile and was sarcastic and funny as well. Logan is a huge school so neither of them crossed paths for awhile after meeting and had no idea that they were both top student-athletes on campus, until they both saw each other’s pictures in the newspaper and school office. After finding out more about each other through their mutual friends, their interest in each other grew stronger. It went from barely seeing each other during lunch to hanging out every day after practice in front of the school pavilion, to making it official shortly after Gabrielle graduated high school. Over the years their love has grown deeper and truly share an unbreakable friendship no matter what life throws their way.

It was four days before Gabrielle’s birthday and John insisted he wanted to take her to dinner before she left to Antigua to celebrate her birthday with her college teammate. John planned everything. He told her to make sure she dressed up, sent her money to get her hair and nails done, and told her to be ready by 2pm because the restaurant was 2 hours away. Gabrielle had no idea where they were going and she was a little nervous because she’s usually the planner/organizer in their relationship and is also slightly a perfectionist. Gabrielle showed up to John’s house and was shook! John was dressed in a full suit and was sharp! Like super fine! John greeted Gabrielle with a sweet kiss and told her she looked beautiful. Along the drive to the restaurant, Gabrielle noticed John looked nervous but thought he just wanted to make her birthday was special. They arrived at Shadowbrook Restaurant in Capitola,CA during golden hour and the weather was perfect. Upon their arrival, the restaurant staff greeted them with big smiles and over the top customer service, which made Gabrielle cautious and nervous. Unknown to Gabrielle, John contacted the restaurant 3 weeks in advance and planned out the entire engagement. So once they arrived, the restaurant knew exactly who Gabrielle was and they were excited. They were led to the back patio of the restaurant, overlooking the garden and fountain. Out of nowhere a man appeared with a vase of fresh red roses and Lillie’s and placed them next to Gabrielle at their table. The food was delicious an their conversation was genuine filled with their usual playful sarcasm. They finished dinner and the waiter approached them with champagne and dark chocolate truffles and sang happy birthday. After eating the truffles, John started expressing his love for Gabrielle which was awkward because neither of them are emotional/mushy people. At that moment John stood up and walked to Gabrielle’s side and got down on one knee. She said yes!