I first noticed Dan during my freshman year of college as he asked to use a nearby bench in the UC Davis gym. After 30 minutes of working out and exchanged glances, I was convinced he would come talk to me. Another 30 minutes went by filled with more glances and no conversation. By then, I had given up hope that he would ever approach me. I decided to head home for the day, stopping near the front door to stretch out my legs. A few minutes later, out of the corner of my eye, I see a neon tennis ball flying towards my head. As I turn to catch it, Dan walks up to me and says, "So you were looking..." I laugh nervously, he sits, we chat, we laugh and the rest, as they say, is history. Since that day, we celebrate the day we met, May 5th, as Tennis Ball Day. We couldn't be more excited to celebrate our 10th Tennis Ball Day by getting married!

Since I didn’t attend UC Davis as a student, I would frequent the gym whenever one of my friends decided they wanted a real workout. May 5th was one of those days. Little did I know, I would be meeting more than just my workout partner there. I first noticed Ryan as I was warming up. To get a closer look, I walked over and asked if she was using the bench for anything. Maybe it was the way she smiled at me as she said “no”, but I thought to myself “I need to figure out a way to talk to her”. As I went through my workout, I was even more encouraged as I noticed her looking my way. Finishing up my last set, I glanced over and she was nowhere to be seen.. "did she leave?!" I casually circled the perimeter of the gym, hoping that she hadn’t left already. Thankfully, I found her rather exhausted on the yoga mats pretending to stretch. “Perfect,” I thought, “time to make my move!”. I walked past her without glancing over, trying to come up with a way to start a conversation. After grabbing some water, I saw a couple friends outside coming from an intramural tennis match. I sped past the stretching mats to grab the ball-- my plan was set. I slowly made my way back over to Ryan and, just as I was passing her, tossed the tennis ball in her direction. She caught it, to which I smoothly responded, “So you were looking ;)” I had finally found my swolemate! :D

What seemed like just another ordinary date turned into a night to remember. I took Ryan to our favorite restaurant in San Francisco, Prubechu. We ordered our usual: the five course tasting menu. After the first four courses, a bouquet of flowers arrived at our table along with a little note (from me, of course). After reading the card, I could tell Ryan was starting to suspect something was going on. The next few moments quickly turned into a blur of emotions as I knelt down on one knee and nervously asked my best friend to marry me. She answered, “Of course I’ll marry you!” as a sneaky photographer captured the whole moment.