Believe it or not, Amy and Paul met through an app called Coffee Meets Bagel (they’re still not sure who’s the Coffee and who’s the Bagel…). Paul was intrigued that Amy was into motorcycles, hockey, and always up for an adventure; while Amy couldn’t resist that Paul was “a super-optimistic goofball” and was looking for someone as excited as he was with life. Also, the fact that Paul “could fix anything” (which Amy would later find out to be 1000% true) was a big winner.

The first date was planned for Friday the 13th, February 2015 at the now defunct Vallco movie theater in Cupertino. It almost didn’t happen -- Amy was so nervous and in the process of texting Paul to cancel, when BOOM -- Paul texted saying he had just purchased the tickets in advance. There was no backing out now. It turned out to be the luckiest Friday the 13th they ever had. After the movie, they went bowling, played air hockey, and chatted late into the night.

The days, weeks, and years to follow were filled with many San Jose Sharks games, their first European vacation (Finland/Sweden), skydiving, a surprise trip to Vancouver to see Amy’s favorite hockey team, a journey to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Paul’s family), and finally, the now-infamous visit to Maui.

On May 20, 2019 they took off for a 10-day vacation to Maui. It was Paul’s second time visiting the island, while it was Amy’s very first trip to Hawaii. After several years of patiently waiting, Amy had resigned to the belief that a proposal was out of the realm of possibility -- it just wasn’t going to happen. On May 21, they took a rented Jeep Wrangler on the fabled Road to Hana, a 64 mile stretch of road with 59 bridges (mostly one-way) and 620 curves (many blind), and scenery that includes countless waterfalls and tropical jungles. After parking the Jeep, they embarked on a short, but strenuous, hike leading to a hidden waterfall. Amy was busy taking pictures, while Paul was pacing back and forth behind her. About to turn around to walk back to the car, Amy was taken by surprise when Paul said “I have a question,” and then got down on one knee, following up with “do you want to get married?” Her first response was, “is this really happening??!!” Spoiler alert: she did end up saying “Yes!”

Amy and Paul were on cloud nine for the next two and a half days. They went snorkeling, played in the ocean, and ate lots of Ululani’s shaved ice. Amy was determined to see the Nakalele Blowhole and Maui’s Heart-Shaped love rock in order to capture a quintessential “Just Engaged!” photo. After driving to the blowhole and while hiking down the trail to the love rock, Amy slipped off a small ledge, dislocating her ankle and breaking multiple bones in her lower leg. Thankfully, Paul had cell reception and two other wonderful couples were there to keep them calm during the thirty minute wait for the firefighters and paramedics to arrive. An hour ambulance ride followed to the only hospital on Maui. According to Paul, the drive was scarier than the road to Hana, lined at every blind turn with six foot tall sugar cane on the little, if any, shoulder that existed.

Paul went into immediate knight mode during this time and took care of everything from the time of the accident onward. After an endless night of travel to the only available hotel room on the west side of Maui (it was Memorial Day weekend and the tiny non-ADA approved AirBNB they had at the time was not going to work), they settled in for the wait to cancel their remaining reservations and fly home a few days later. Amy was in a full leg splint, awaiting surgery in San Jose. Through all the pain and surreal medical drama, Amy and Paul fell in love all over again.