How We Met
Kyle and I both grew up in San Diego but moved to San Francisco after college. A couple years into adulting, a mutual friend introduced us at a bar after their company happy hour. I walked into the bar well aware that he was going to be there. What I didn’t know was that he’d be wearing a Hawaiian shirt, flip-flops, and a Japanese kimono… Apparently, a costume store was going out of business next to the bar so Kyle felt the strong desire to go inside and buy the kimono and wear it the rest of the evening.
What Kyle didn’t know before this decision was that I LOVE costumes (I have a massive trunk full of costumes in my apartment and somewhat of a reputation of throwing themed parties) so he couldn’t have played his cards any better. We instantly hit it off that evening and I somehow convinced Kyle to meet several of my friends at another venue after their happy hour ended. Kyle and I aren’t big on dinner dates so we spent the next couple of months meeting at concert venues or Ocean Beach. It was pretty clear from the beginning of our relationship that we shared many similar interests and values, and our friendship grew stronger as we fell in love.
how they asked
I flew home to Encinitas on Thursday, September 27th to spend a couple of days with my family before heading to a music festival in San Diego on Saturday morning. Kyle couldn’t get the time off of work so he was planning to fly down to San Diego on Friday night after work and stay with his parents in Coronado. We had planned to meet up on Saturday morning before the festival and I was slightly annoyed that he wasn’t able to fly home any earlier. When I woke up on Friday morning, 9/28, I sent Kyle a text about how foggy it was and how I hoped the weather would get nicer by the concert. He sent me a smug response about how warm and sunny it was in SF (which it never is) and how he was excited to see me on Saturday, and I was very convinced that he was in San Francisco.
Little did I know, Kyle had flown home Thursday evening with his sister, my brother and my best friend. He was already in San Diego witnessing the foggy morning and praying that it would get sunnier by the afternoon.
Whenever I go home to visit my parents we go on beach walks together. It’s such a normal thing for us that I was the one to suggest that we go on one together after my mom finished teaching on Friday afternoon. She’s a science teacher at Cardiff Elementary and suggested that we go walk along tide pools at Swami’s Beach so she could prepare for the marine biology lesson she was giving her class the next week. Swami’s is one of my favorite beaches so I didn’t think twice about her suggestion.
When we arrived at the top of the beach, we saw a guy doing yoga on the grass next to his surfboard. I made a comment to my mom about how that would be Kyle (he does yoga almost every day and we have 10 surfboards in our tiny apartment). She laughed and said, “What if it actually was?” boldly testing me to see if I had any idea what was yet to come, and I replied with a long-winded explanation about how he was stuck in SF because of work reasons. We reached the top of the stairs and paused to look at the beautiful coast. The fog burned off hours ago and there wasn’t a single cloud was in the sky. As my mom and I walked down the wooden stairs to the sand I mentioned to her that since I graduated from college Swami’s had become my favorite beach. She told me later that Kyle and her had struggled to choose the perfect beach to meet at so when she heard me say this comment she knew everything was going to be amazing.
As soon as our feet hit the sand we started to briskly walk towards the tide pools. I was yapping away to my mom and I almost didn’t hear someone say my name from behind us. We turned around to see Kyle standing there with a huge grin on his face. I was shocked and completely confused, looking to my mom for answers but only getting, “Bye! Have fun!” as a response before running back up the stairs. I gave him a huge hug and launched into a million questions like, “When did you fly flew in?” and “What did you do today?” still in complete shock but also knowing something was up. He suggested we walk down the beach and he’d explain it to me.
At that moment, it clicked and I knew what was going on so of course, instantly started crying UGLY tears of joy. Kyle pulled out the ring box from his back pocket and I jumped on him yelling “Yes!!!” before he could even ask the question. He laughed and took a step back responding, “OK but I need to officially ask,” before getting down on one knee and popping the question.
We embraced and he picked me up and swung me around and I still wasn’t able to control my sobs. As we started walking back to the stairs I noticed a photographer documenting every moment which turned out to be my mom’s best friend, Christy Seaver. She came over and hugged us before taking a few more pictures. Suddenly, we looked up to see our families both running towards us on the beach whooping and cheering the entire the way. That moment, shared with our families celebrating on the beach, will be one of my favorite memories for the rest of my life.
After we left the beach we went back to my house where they had organized a surprise party with tons of our closest friends and family. I was so touched by the number of people that traveled to celebrate with us and couldn’t get over how Kyle managed to pull off such an epic surprise (There was even a taco stand! Thanks for helping mom!). We popped bottles and celebrated what was without a doubt the best moment of my life. And I because I know you’re still wondering…Yes, we still ended up going to that music festival which was apparently a pretty good cover story!
