We met in a 4-minute pass-the-peace at Reality SF Church two years ago the day they began their “dating and relationships” series.... God must've laughed as Hope jokingly told her sister en route to church “Maybe I’ll meet my husband today!”. She was living in Paris and coming out of a dark night of the soul and back home visiting family and friends for a week. Peter remembers her asking "What are you passionate about?" in that short moment of eternity. Hope's therapist had encouraged her earlier that year to practice presence, giving the tangible example of focusing on one person in the pass-the-peace moment rather than meeting all twenty people around her. In the process of healing and finding freedom, Hope met Peter in the midst of the mess of life. She sneakily slipped a sheet of Mrs. Grossman's stickers onto his journal after service with her instagram handle (she didn't have a US number or business card). He slid into her DMs and showed up to her door with freshly baked sourdough bread and ended up meeting the entire family that evening. When he left, everyone asked "who is bread boy?!". Hope secretly asked Peter if he'd like to grab a coffee the day before she flew back to Paris. We met at the Ferry Building and felt like time stopped. He had to leave for the airport for a work trip, which she found out 6 months later he changed his flight to be able to meet up (oh la la!). We wrote letters and slowly got to know one another across the ocean... Long story short, he got stuck in Paris during the pandemic and our love continues to grow with time. We can't wait to get married!

We drove up a winding road from Napa Valley passing vineyards and chasing the light on Saturday, looking for a place to watch the sunset. The day was spent celebrating Hope's birthday, sipping cappuccinos at States Coffee in Benicia and Wine Tasting at in Napa. Hope suggested to go chase the sunset while exploring Napa, not an unusual request from a poet who has FOMOS (Fear Of Missing out on Sunset). At the top of the mountain a sign that read “rough road” at the top. There was a property for sale off the road that happened to have a bench overlooking the Sonoma Valley as the sun danced down on the horizon in a golden hue of joy. With perfectly unmanicured nails and joy in finding a perfect sunset spot Hope sat down next to Peter on the bench (thanks God for the miraculous proposal spot that was completely spontaneous). Next thing she knew, he was down on one knee with a stunning ring (*female-owned and conflict free design*) asking to chase light together for life. A few giddy squeals later she declared the easiest "YES" of her life. Hope was so excited, she wanted to give Peter a ring too and made one out of some wildflowers. Creator, Artist, God decided to turn up the vibrance in the sunset as we watched Venus ( the brightest planet named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty) appear on the horizon and day turned to dusk. This is just the beginning of a lifelong journey of discovering new depths of love.

https://youtu.be/3uI7xG13GjM