When I (Danielle) got a job for the City of Torrance in 2008, never in a million years did I think I would meet my future husband, but turns out that's exactly what happened! We met on August 26th 2008 (but who's counting, right?) at Greenwood Park for training before the school year started. I remember thinking Simon was such a "bad boy" with his black hair spiked all the way around. lol. Needless to say I was real excited to start working with him at Torrance Elementary. The connection we had was instantaneous and was impossible to ignore. We spent countless hours sitting on the playground talking, Simon pushing me on the swings, yet somehow we made sure the kids were always alright. Despite how much we clicked it wasn't until I made the first move that got the ball rolling! That was just a predecessor to who would wear the pants in our relationship, ha! Ten years later and I still make most of our plans, but I wouldn't have it any other way :)

For those of you who are familiar with my and Simon's relationship, know I have been referring to myself and Simon as "pre-engaged" for like 2 years prior to ACTUALLY being engaged. It became a running joke at work, really. "Danielle when are you guys REALLY going to get engaged??!" Great question, stranger. Fast forward to April 2018 when we were about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime (and my first trip to Europe!). We were heading to Denmark, then Poland for a wedding and then rounding out the trip with a visit to Spain. I hoped that Simon would propose on this trip and thought there wouldn't be a more perfect time than in Europe! So we go to Denmark, and leave Denmark. No proposal. Go to Poland, have the best time at the wedding, and leave Poland. No proposal. Truth be told I actually kind of forgot about a proposal, I was truly having THE best time on the trip. So, then comes the night of the proposal. It was the second to last night in Spain and we decided to have a nice sushi dinner (yes, Spain has sushi and it's DELICIOUS). We drank beer and wine, ate our weight in sushi and overall had the best time. Afterwards we decided to have a drink at a bar down the street that we had been to the night before. We start walking towards the bar just chit chatting away and all of a sudden Simon grabs my hand and says "let's go this way" and pulls me into a side street (opposite of where the bar was) and me, being completely unaware of what was going on, complied and started walking in the direction he was leading and before I knew it he stops me and says "I don't know what I'm doing but I know I want to be with you forever"...and a bunch of other stuff I don't remember because I'm pretty sure I blacked out. I, of course, said yes and we finally made our way to the bar to have a celebratory drink. Come to find out Simon had had the ring in his back pocket ALL DAY he was just waiting for the right moment...I had NO idea! It was total bliss :)

Fun fact: I had had the loose diamond for months by the time Danielle and I began planning our first European vacation. I had come to this amazing and obvious idea to do something truly special; I would propose to Danielle while we were there, and she would be surprised, and smitten, and it would be glorious! That was my plan. The only problem was I had no ring, and, me being me, I had less time than I was comfortable having to secure the second half of the equation, mount the rock, and get the assembly into my suitcase. That’s where any sort of planning or preemptive decision making ended. I’m a simple guy: I knew I wanted to marry Danielle, and I knew I wanted to be dramatic about it, but that was about it. Surely the right time would present itself, and the moment would be seized. Denmark was great – eh, too cold. How about Poland? We’re already going to a wedding; I don’t want to upstage anyone. I was scared and nervous and happy and full of frisson (it’s the perfect word, look it up) by the second to last day we were in Barcelona. It was our last stop, and it was now or never. Walking down one of their tiny cobble stone roads, I grabbed Danielle and hooked a right at the corner of Carrer De Mozart and Carrer De Domenech. It must have been the only street corner in Barcelona with no one but us on it. From there I pulled out the ring that I had been sitting on literally all day. What followed is still a blur but the question I asked, and that beautiful moment, is still fresh in my memory. It was glorious. Then, I definitely blacked out, but, I did it. I got it done, and seeing her smile was the best thing I have ever seen.