How we met…
The year was 1997…
it was the beginning of my (Jessica's) sophomore year in high school, and Paul was an incoming freshman. Paul says it was science class, and I think he is right… Our friendship continued through high school …but then… in 2001…Paul moved away!
Paul headed off to college in Southern California before moving to the state of Washington with his groomsman Richard, where the latest and greatest in the brand new world of social media brought us back together… Facebook.
“
From the day I met her, early in the morning in the back of a high school biology class, I knew that Jessica was
A) A person who I needed to know more about
B) Much cooler than I was
C) Someone put in my path by the universe on purpose
Now, more than twenty years later, after years apart and years of friendship, all of these things are still absolutely true as we challenge each other and build a future together every day.
“
- Paul
The Pacific Northwest
I ended up moving to Portland while Paul was attending Central Washington University, where he earned both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Over the years, I would pop up and visit…we would chat on the phone late at night while he worked on his thesis, send far too many text messages, and of course, do all the Facebook notes and quizzes.
While there was no dating during this time period…we always told each other, “I love you,” because it was true.
Always did and always will…
The Proposal
You always hear about The Right Time. The perfect scene in your head and how you want things to go. After secretly designing the engagement ring, I came up with a whole scene on how to do it. I called it Plan A. After pandemic lockdowns, limited openings, and another lockdown, I moved on to Plan B, C, and D. We went on a weekend trip to Bend, OR, and after walking around with the ring, the time never seemed right until it did. After we finished dinner and a chapter of To Hunt a Killer, our true crime subscription box, everything felt exactly where it should be. So I asked her if I could be her husband, to her complete surprise.
“
Sitting in Coava Coffee in downtown Portland… I looked over at him and was like, ‘Oh my god, I love this man.’
”
- Jessica
