Oh you've probably heard this one...but for those who may not have, we met in college when we were both members of the Trojan Marching Band at USC. Our freshman year, USC's football team was in the National Championship at the Rose Bowl, and as part of the pre-game events, the marching band performed and spent the day at Disneyland. While waiting in line for Space Mountain, Jill was holding hands with her then boyfriend, turned away to talk to some other friends, and then turned back to hold her boyfriend's hand...only it wasn't his - it was the hand of another band member she'd never met - and that was John! Jill was completely mortified, but John just laughed. In the years that followed, whenever we ran into each other we would joke about "that time we held hands". Over a decade later, when we both ended up living in San Francisco, we decided to start holding hands for real. Good thing we had all that practice.

At a "guise" night (John's words), John had a buddy nudge Jill over text into planning what she thought was a day of wine tasting with friends. Determined to surprise her, John knew he couldn’t be the one to organize - it would be a dead giveaway to Jill, the group’s usual “planner”. Meanwhile, John had already booked the table and told the winery to have a magnum of sparkling on hand. When we arrived on that sunny Sonoma day, the group shared flights of bubbles overlooking the stunningly green valley. How could you not snap a few photos in front of that view? Each couple took a turn, and when it was ours, Jill smiled for the photos next to John and was about to walk away when John stopped her, and dropped down on one knee. John proposed beautifully and Jill, in total shock, said yes! Our wonderful friends, who had been in on the surprise, celebrated and cheered (and captured it all on video). The party continued back in San Francisco, where John had booked a table for 10 at one of the city's classic special occasion restaurants, House of Prime Rib. That he managed to do that on what was also Father's Day is truly a Bay Area miracle. It was an incredible day.